


The Gus Chronicles(Adult Years)

by bjfic_archivist



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Canon, No Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-03-31
Updated: 2004-09-25
Packaged: 2018-12-27 12:25:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12081033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bjfic_archivist/pseuds/bjfic_archivist
Summary: Gus is remembering how he got to the point where he is hiding in the bathroom of the Honeymoon Suite on the night of his wedding.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Note from IrishCaelan, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Brian_Justin_Fanfiction_Archive). To preserve the archive, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in September 2017. I posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/bjfic/profile).

December 1 2023

 

“Gus are you OK? What's taking so long?”

“I’m fine Katherine, I just want to look my best for my bride.”

Who would've thought that Brian Kinney’s 23-year-old son would be hiding in the bathroom of the Bridal Suite on his wedding 

night? This is ridiculous, I’ve known her for over 5 years, and we’ve been dating exclusively for over 3, well I have for 

over 5 but she doesn’t know that. Why am I afraid to go out of this bathroom and be with my bride? Uncle Justin and Dad 

have kidded me for being prudish but even they would be surprised to find out that I’m afraid of my wedding bed. 

How'd I get to this point in my life? 

I suppose it started the summer before I turned 14 when I realized that I was straight instead of gay. Everyone I knew and I 

just assumed that I would be gay. My dad is gay, my mom is a lesbian, and pretty much everyone in my pseudo family is gay. 

I just kept waiting for the Big Fairy in the Sky to tap my head with his magic wand and make me realize what being gay really 

meant. I mean I knew that gay meant loving other males, like my Dad and Uncle Justin loved each other, but I really didn’t 

know how they expressed that love. I didn’t know how they knew they were gay either. I'd gone through puberty and was 

physically grown but I still didn’t find other boys interesting. I thought about asking Dad or Uncle Justin but I just 

couldn’t get the courage to do that. I also couldn’t make myself ask Mikey, Teddy, or Aunty Em either. The only female in 

the family that I could have considered asking, Daphne, was out of the country again. The other women in the family weren't 

possible either. I mean even the thought of asking Grandma Jenn or Debbie something about sex made me want to throw up. 

Then in the middle of June ’14 I remembered that my cousin Joshua had hinted about his sexuality at our Grandmom’s funeral 

the previous October. While Joshua hadn’t out right stated that he was gay when we had talked at the funeral lunch, at Aunt 

Claire’s house, but he had mentioned that he should probably talk to someone about what it meant to be gay. He had said it 

was a college project but when I suggested that he talk to Dad or Uncle Justin he had said, and this really surprised me 

since he was almost 20-years-old, that he was afraid of Uncle Brian and he couldn’t possibly ask Justin anything sexual since 

he was even more afraid of the guy that had tamed his Uncle Brian. I'd asked him why he was afraid of Dad. He said that 

about the only thing he remembered about his Uncle Brian was Dad telling him, and his brother Daniel, that he had grandpa’s 

head in a bowling ball bag at the funeral lunch after our grandpa’s funeral in early 2001. 

I called Joshua and asked him if he could come by the house. He dropped by the next afternoon. 

“Well Augustus what's up?”

“Joshua, you know I prefer to be called Gus.”

“I know Augustus but if I’m stuck with Joshua then you're stuck with Augustus; besides has any one else called you Augustus 

lately? How can I help you baby cousin?”

“I want to know how you knew that you were gay? I’ve always expected to be gay, once I got old enough to know about sexual 

orientation, but even though I’ve gone through puberty I still don’t find boys interesting but every time I turn around I get 

a boner when I see a pretty girl. It's embarrassing to have to cover myself up time after time at the swimming pool. It 

even gets hard when I’m in the water.”

“I would say Augustus that's a pretty good sign that you're straight. I had the opposite problem. I had a horrible time in 

gym class. Springing a boner in the shower room doesn’t go over well with some of the guys. When you have a fantasy is 

about a male or a female?”

“I don’t know that I’ve had any fantasies Joshua but I certainly don’t think about other boys or men. My Dad is going to be 

so dissappointed in me.”

“Augustus you're straight then. Uncle Brian'll never be dissappointed in you Augustus no matter who you end up loving. 

Someday I'll be at your wedding. Maybe, just maybe, you will be at my wedding someday. Of course that'll require new laws 

to be passed and I don’t ever expect to see it happen. You were right Augustus when you said I should talk to someone. I 

didn’t talk to Uncle Brian or Justin but I did go to a meeting of a gay group at Pitt. I’ve been able to admit to people 

that I'm gay, not that I remember telling you though, and I’ve even been on a few dates. Do you know what my mother did when 

I told her?

“Knowing Aunt Claire I would say she burst into tears.”

“That's what I was expecting but she told me how proud of me she was for being able to tell her something that her big bad 

brother couldn’t tell his mother for over 30 years and even then it was more confirming the fact than really telling her; 

then Mom burst into tears.”

After talking with Joshua that June day I was able to admit to myself that I was straight. Then of course I decided that 

since I was straight Dad would hate me for the rest of my life. I let myself get worked up until finally I felt I had to 

tell him and get on with our lives. I made such a big deal of the situation. I called a family meeting to see if anyone 

would know how I could tell Dad my horrible news without him hating me. I finally talked to Uncle Justin about my fears and 

he took me to talk with Dad. After a little confusion Dad finally figured out what I was afraid of and he made it clear to 

me that he didn’t care who I loved just that I was happy. I told myself that I wouldn’t keep anything from Dad and Uncle 

Justin in the future but I haven’t been able to keep that promise.

It'd been good to see Joshua, Aunt Claire, and Daniel at my wedding reception today. Daniel is living in Nova Scotia now; 

his father-in-law had offered him a job in the family business when he'd graduated from Pitt. His daughter, Jessica Marie, is 

almost 14 now and quite the good-looking Kinney granddaughter that she is. Aunt Claire had married, for the third time, in 

‘16 and had moved to Lubbock Texas when her new husband, a professor of Hydrology, took a position at Texas Tech. Joshua had 

moved to Nebraska with his partner when Markus inherited one of the family farms in ‘17. 

“You know Augustus it's amazing that since Markus and I gave up trying to make a go of the farm by ranching and turned it 

into a gay dude ranch no one in the ‘Heart of the Seven Valleys’ area has said a derogatory word about us being gay and 

having so many gay clients spending time in town. Of course Markus being a member of one the most prominent families in the 

county might have something to do with that. Yet every now and then I get guff about being from Pennsylvania. Husker fans 

are still upset about the PSU win in 1982, since they're still mad about the field being bigger than normal. Hell my mother 

was only 14 when that game took place what does it have to do with me? I hope that you and Katherine are as happy as Markus 

and I have been. You were right about talking to Uncle Brian and Justin. Once I was able to actually get the courage to 

talk to them they gave me some excellent advice on how to maintain a gay relationship for the long term. 

***

“Gus are you still alive in there?”

“Katherine you're such a kidder.”

I always thought that when you were reviewing your life in your head it didn’t take any time in the real world. 

After I decided I was straight I started dating, the first was a boy-girl birthday party when I turned 14. Even though my 

birthday is in September we always had my parties on the first Saturday of August so that it wouldn’t interfere with the 

beginning of the school year. Most of the time I went out on double dates or with a group of boys and girls but I did go 

out once in a while on casual dates with girls from my classes. 

Then I met her and I knew whom I would marry someday. As hokey as it seemed it was love at first sight. I started my first 

day at the Liberty Diner between my junior and senior years of High School. Deb introduced me to Katherine and I almost fell 

over. I knew at that moment that someday we would be married. I'd grown up with stories of Uncle Justin knowing that Dad 

was his true love from the moment he first laid eyes on him that night outside of Babylon, the night I was born. Of course I 

made the mistake of telling Dad and Uncle Justin that I'd met my bride when I got home that first day. Dad has made a career 

of teasing me about when I was going to ask Katherine to marry me.

I'd spent a lot of years denying the stories I heard about my Dad and his sexual exploits. I wanted to believe that he'd 

always been the perfect man that I always remembered. I only remembered that Dad and Uncle Justin loved each other and to 

believe that he had fooled around with other guys was something I just didn’t want to believe. For the most part the stories 

I overheard just sailed over my head. No matter how often the story mentioned Brian Kinney I just knew it wasn’t my Dad and 

it didn’t sink in.

I finally came around when Uncle Justin taught me how to make Jambalaya. I'd always enjoyed the time I spent with Uncle 

Justin learning how to cook since we always talked about everything while we were cooking. One Saturday during my Freshman 

year Uncle Justin told me that he felt like making something exotic and how did I feel about learning how to make Jambalaya. 

I told him that I was willing to make anything he wanted to teach me to make. I knew he was happy with the answer when he 

gave me a Sunshine smile. I have always loved those Sunshine smiles, they make me feel so happy but the few times I’ve 

gotten even the smallest frown from Uncle Justin have just about broken my heart. I then remembered something Grandma Jenn 

had told me years before.

“Uncle Justin, Grandma Jenn told me that I should get you to tell me the story about the time you first made Jambalaya by 

yourself. So how about it?”

“Gus that's an adult story, are you ready to hear something graphic about your Dad and me?”

“Uncle Justin I’m 15 years old, I’m old enough to hear anything about you and Dad. How bad could it be, you two are so white 

bread?”

“Gus we might be white bread today but your Dad used to be quite the loaf of Jalapeno Rye in his day. It wasn’t one of his 

finest moments.”

“Go ahead with the story.”

“Well I warned you Gus.”

“Uncle Justin it can’t be that bad.”

“Gus you remember the stories about how I knew that I loved your Dad from the moment I first met him?”

“Yes.”

“Well the big problem back then was that your Dad was unable to admit to himself that he even liked me let alone loved me. 

With that being said I wasn’t willing to give him the chance to get away from me. He called me his stalker but even though 

he wouldn’t say that he cared about me he certainly broke many of his rules because of me. He liked having me around whether 

we had sex or not, though most of the time we ended up in bed, but he liked the fact that I wasn’t around all of the time. 

He had his routines on how he lived his life and he didn’t want some teenage twink messing up his routines. That was thrown 

into confusion one night when my Dad attacked him and made me make the decision on whether to stay with Brian or come home 

with him. Of course I chose Brian. It didn’t take long for my presence in the Loft to drive him batty. Finally he decided 

he had to do something to make me go home. So in typical Brian Kinney fashion he decided to push me off of a cliff. He 

brought home a trick, knowing full well that I would be there and would either have to leave or watch. That was the night 

that I had decided to make Jambalaya. Pretty much everything that could go wrong went wrong, things boiled over, I dropped 

the salad and then Brian showed up with this guy from Atlanta. It bugged Brian when the guy talked to me about cooking; I 

actually think Brian got a little jealous, so he gave the guy an ultimatum. The guy chose having sex with Brian over cooking 

with me. I watched as they got started then I just had to leave. I couldn’t go home so I went over to your mothers who put 

me up for the night. I know I bugged the hell out of your Mama when I told her she couldn’t say anything bad about Brian 

even though he had been so nasty to me.”

“How could Dad be so mean to you? I feel like telling him off when he gets home.”

“Gus, calm down. Brian was just trying to protect his heart. He felt things for me that he hadn’t felt in years and he was 

scared. He really thought that he was doing the best he could for me by making me go home. He just didn’t realize that I 

wouldn’t go home. Anyway I went to school but your mother called Brian and told him that he had to fix things. There was an 

implied threat but neither of them ever told me what it was. I was leaving school that afternoon and a bunch of my fellow 

seniors were picking on me when Brian roared up in the Jeep. He told me to get into the car, that we were going home. 

Imagine my surprise when we pulled up to my parent’s house instead of the Loft. 

So we had a family talk about me moving back home. I'd decided that I would have to do it since Brian didn’t want me at the 

Loft and I didn’t have anywhere else to go. Then my Dad got on his high horse and started in on the rules that I would have 

to follow in order to live in his house. There was stuff about me not ever seeing Brian again and how I couldn’t flaunt my 

deviant lifestyle and so on. I always liked to think that the part about not seeing Brian was what made him do what he did 

but I always knew that it was the part about not being able to live my life openly as a gay man. Brian stood up and told Mom 

and Dad that those rules were hate not love and then he asked me if I was coming. I looked at Mom and then I was out of the 

door. 

Brian dropped me off at the Loft while he went on some errands. I found out that he had cleaned up the mess I'd left and had 

put all of the food away from the night before. This told me that he really did care about me; otherwise he would've thrown 

everything away. I set up the table and then reheated the meal. Brian came home and we ate and then had one of the most 

enjoyable nights of our living together. So Jambalaya is a very special meal to me because while it involved some emotional 

pain it also was involved in one of the best nights of my life.”

“How're my favorite guys?”

“Dad you bastard.”

“What the hell was that about? Why're you staring at me like that Sonnyboy?”

“I told him the Jambalaya story and I’m guessing he is figuring out how to beat you up.”

“What?”

“Your Sonnyboy finally is admitting to himself that you aren’t perfect. He's realizing that you actually had a sex life 

before me. That you really did try to run me out of you life.”

“Dad I’m sorry, but how could you hurt Uncle Justin like that. Bringing some guy home to rub in his face. He made you 

dinner and everything too. How could you Dad, how could you?”

“Sonnyboy I was a different guy back then and what I was feeling for Justin was scaring the hell out of me. But Gus that 

little incident was small potatoes compared to what I did to him later. I still am amazed that he put up with me back then 

and that he's still with me now.”

“Brian I loved you then and I’ve loved you ever since. Get it through your head you're not going to get rid of me ever.”

After that night I had to admit that Dad hadn’t been the perfect gay man that I had wanted him to be. He really had all of 

the sex partners that he wanted. The stories about his past started sinking in when I heard them. It was amazing how some of 

Dad’s friends felt the need to talk about his past where I could hear them. 

But I was so happy that Uncle Justin entered Dad’s life the night I was born and started on the path of taming the King of 

Liberty Avenue. I know that my mothers would never have allowed Dad to be a big part of my life if he'd remained the way he 

was before I was born. I don’t want to think of my life without Dad and Uncle Justin in it.

***

“Gus this's getting ridiculous, I’m the one who's supposed to have wedding night jitters.”

“Katherine you wouldn’t believe how complicated these designer label pajamas that Dad got me are. I’ll be there in a 

minute.”

I don’t believe I said that, complicated pajamas. 

That first summer was so much fun, just being in her presence made the workday speed by. By the end of July we were dating 

and I even took her into my confidence regarding my plan to give Dad and Uncle Justin happy post prom memories. That school 

year was hard since I was in my senior year at Chief Joseph High and she had started at Pitt. I was involved in football and 

she was dating college men. 

While I never let her see it I was so jealous that I could almost spit at just the idea that she was going out with someone 

else. Truth be told she did very little dating with anyone else but me but even once was more than I wanted to deal with. 

I’m more like my Dad than just looking like him even if most of the time people think I’m like Uncle Justin. 

We made it through the year and she helped with the final parts of the Prom plan. We had a wonderful time at Prom but the 

most important part of that night was how happy Uncle Justin and Dad were. I told Katherine when I dropped her off at Deb’s 

that I planned on us being married and having 12 kids someday. She just agreed that we would have a lot of love for our kids 

just like I had a lot of love from my Dads. I knew right then and there that this wedding night would come to pass; I just 

didn‘t think I would be afraid to leave the bathroom.

That summer after I graduated from Chief Joseph was one of excitement and anticipation. Katherine and I worked at the diner 

and dated as well. My folks and I made all kinds of plans for when I was going to move to State College to start my college 

career at Penn State. 

Then I found out that Uncle Justin’s Dad, Craig Taylor, wanted to try to get back into Uncle Justin’s life. I, being the 

do-gooder that I am, decided to run one of my plans to get them back together. What a disaster that was. Uncle Justin just 

blew up at the sight of his father and stormed out of the restaurant. I really thought that I'd blown my relationship with 

Uncle Justin. The slightest frown from Uncle Justin had always devastated me but when he sent me away and wouldn’t even see 

me I thought that my life had ended. None of the plans we'd made worked out. Instead of going to State College with Dad and 

Uncle Justin I went by myself. Instead of Katherine coming to visit me the next weekend like we'd planned my Mothers came to 

make sure that I was doing OK because of the mess with Uncle Justin. Luckily Uncle Justin and I were able to repair our 

relationship, I don’t know what I'd have done without Uncle Justin in my life. After that horrible mess I didn’t come home 

very much and Katherine didn’t have time to come to State College. I did see her when I came home for a couple of weekends 

and of course we spent most of the holiday breaks together.

In the fall of my sophomore year at Penn State Chris Hobbs kidnapped me. That was a horrible time but in the end Uncle 

Justin saved the day. Katherine didn’t know anything until after it was over and she was so upset at the idea that I might 

have been killed that she decided that we should date exclusively and that we would get married once we both had graduated 

from college. I'd known since the day I met her that we were destined to be man and wife but it was nice to know that she 

finally agreed with that plan.

I also lost an uncle because of the kidnapping. As part of the Thanksgiving Holiday Dad threw a party on that Saturday to 

celebrate the fact that everything had worked out for the best. Michael Novotny and Dad had been best friends forever, Uncle 

Justin had only been two when they first met when Dad moved and transferred to a new school. I always thought of Mikey as an 

uncle since he and Dad acted like brothers. At this party though I overheard Mikey talking to Teddy and I lost any respect I 

ever had for him. Granted he had just had another relationship fall apart and he was drunk but I couldn’t forgive him for 

what I heard. 

“Isn’t this the shits Teddy, having a party to celebrate getting out of a mess that shouldn’t have happened in the first 

place.”

“Michael what're you talking about?”

“If Brian had just listened to me, his best friend in the world, all of those years ago then Justin wouldn’t have been in his 

life and Hobbs wouldn’t have kidnapped Gus in an attempt to get Justin back. I told Brian over and over again that Justin 

wasn’t any good for him. That Justin just wanted him to change his way of living so that Justin would be happy. What did 

that little twink get Brian into, kidnapped and almost killed just so a madman could get the little twink into his life.”

“Michael you know better than this, Brian loves Justin and has loved him for over 20 years. He chose to risk his life in 

order to free Gus from that madman and Justin risked his life to do the same thing. I know that you're upset that Marc left 

you and that you're drunk but you need to get over this idiocy that Brian and Justin aren’t meant for each other.”

“Hell Brian isn’t meant to love anyone and he doesn’t really love the ‘Boy Wonder’ he's just been fooled and guilted into 

this so-called relationship. He wasn’t supposed to care about Sonnyboy either, that's something else that Justin messed up.”

“Michael you're so fucked up, but we've been friends for a lot of years so I'll take you home before you make a fool of 

yourself again. Michael you have to realize that Brian was never going to look at you as more than his best friend whether 

Justin was in his life or not.”

“You don’t know that Ted. It's all Justin’s fault, if he'd just stayed away then Brian would've been there for me when Ben 

was killed and we would've been together like we were supposed to have been.”

“Michael you poor deluded fool, come on I’m taking you home before someone hears this nonsense.”

I actually couldn’t believe what I'd heard. My Kinney side wanted to go beat the crap out of that little pipsqueak but my 

Taylor side told me that it would only hurt Deb if I squashed Mikey like the little bug he obviously was. I never thought of 

Michael as an Uncle again and I hardly spoke to him unless I really had to. To be truthful he's not that bad of a guy when 

he's being Michael it's just when his Mikey persona takes over that I can't stand to be around him. I try to be nice to him 

for Dad's sake but sometimes it's very hard.

Katherine and I saw each other as often as possible during the school year and we both worked at the Diner every summer. Deb 

was grooming Katherine to take over the Diner for when she decided to retire in the future. During the semester break of my 

junior year I had to run a plan to get Uncle Justin to reconcile with his Dad before grandpa died. Unlike the first plan 

this one worked and Uncle Justin and grandpa did become friendly before grandpa died in March 2022.

***

“Augustus Brian get your Kinney attributes out here.”

The natives are getting restless but I’ve still not ready to go consummate my wedding. What's wrong with me?

During my final semester I got a psychology assignment that I decided to finish as soon as possible so I went home to 

Pittsburgh and asked Dad and Uncle Justin if they could help me with it by providing some case studies from their lives. I’m 

23 years old, a newly married man yet I still call my second father Uncle. I tried once to just call him Justin but it just 

didn’t seem right and I went back to Uncle Justin within a few days. What I’ve always wanted to call him is Papa but he's 

against that for some reason.

I found out a lot about my Dads from those case studies that explained a lot about their past behaviors. It became even more 

obvious how much the two loved each other. I just hope that Katherine and I can be in the same ballpark as Dad and Uncle 

Justin when it comes to our marriage. I’m dreading the day, many many years from now, when Uncle Justin has to deal with the 

death of Dad. I just know that he'll fall apart without Dad in his life and I know how hard it'll affect me both losing my 

Dad and dealing with Uncle Justin’s loss. Why am I thinking about something that isn’t going to happen for another 50 years?

Dad had been asking me every time I called or we saw each other in person if I'd asked Katherine to marry me yet. It was 

such a pain, even though I knew he was just pulling my chain. He'd be so surprised if I told him that when push came to 

shove Katherine asked me to marry her instead of me asking her. The night before I graduated from Penn State we were eating 

at our favorite restaurant when she actually got on one knee and asked.

“Augustus Brian Peterson-Marcus will you marry me?”

“Why're you asking me, are you afraid that I’ve given up on my 5 year plan?”

“No Gus, I just decided that I wanted to ask first, after all I am the oldest. So what's your answer?”

“Like you don’t know. Of course I'll marry you.”

Then we set up the plan where I would ask her just after the graduation ceremony was over and I was still in my cap and gown. 

That little scene left everyone speechless, even Dad.

We decide to get married on December 1 though right at this moment I don’t remember why. At the 4th of July family picnic 

Katherine and I asked Dad and Uncle Justin if they would consent to have a commitment ceremony as part of our wedding. We 

both thought that it would add to our wedding to have these two wonderful men share it with us. I could've fallen over when 

Uncle Justin just said:

“No, Gus we'll not take anything away from your special day. Your Dad and I'll do everything we can to make that day 

something you'll always remember but we'll not do anything that takes attention away from you two.”

As much as I wanted to discuss this announcement I knew better. I'd learned my lesson years before with the grandpa mess and 

I wouldn’t risk that ever again. 

Everyone says that time passes faster and faster the older you get but the months from when Katherine and I announced our 

wedding plans until today passed in a blink of an eye. I’m glad that Dad hired someone to film the ceremony since I don’t 

really remember a thing that happened after Uncle Justin woke me up this morning. I do remember how beautiful Katherine was, 

how cute Tommy and Anna were as the ring bearer and flower girl. Dad and Uncle Justin wore the same tuxes and scarves that 

they wore at my Prom. Mom and Mama, Deb, Molly, and Grandma Jenn were dressed to the max as well. I do remember what Uncle 

Justin told me just before we walked out to the altar.

“Gus I hope you're half as happy with Katherine as I've been with Brian. If you approach that level of happiness you'll be 

floating on air every day for the rest of your life. Know that your Dad and I'll always be there for you since we love you, 

as much as is humanly possible. You've been a wonderful son and I’m sure that you'll be a great husband and father.

OK remembering that little conversation helps. Uncle Justin would never be such a coward as I’ve been; hiding in the 

bathroom. I’ve got these complicated pajamas on and I have no more excuses, it's time to go find out what it's like to be a 

married man.

“Katherine ready or not here I come.”

Who would've thought that Brian Kinney’s 23-year-old son would go to his wedding bed a virgin?


	2. The Gus Chronicles(Adult Years)

March 2025

4 PM Waiting room, Gynecologist Office

“Well? What did the doctor say, was your home test correct?”

“We definitely have to start thinking about names Gus.”

“Are we ready for this Katherine? I mean are we really ready for this?”

“Whether we're ready or not really doesn’t matter Gus since we're going to have a baby either way.”

“A baby, I can’t believe that I’m going to be a father.”

“Well Mr. Peterson-Marcus you were there when it happened. I didn’t do it all by myself.”

“I knew I should’ve stayed a virgin. I should’ve resisted your charms on our wedding night. I should’ve kept my dick in 

those fancy pajama shorts my Dad bought me.” 

“That's so funny Gus.”

“Have you got all of your belongings? I‘ll get the car and I'll meet you at the door.”

“I'm perfectly capable of walking with you to the car, I’m not even 2 months pregnant yet.”

***

Inside the Peterson-Marcus car

“Having a child isn’t going to be that hard Gus. We‘re young and healthy and both of us have good jobs so money isn’t a 

problem. So why are you so worried about having a baby?”

“I know; it just wasn’t something I was planning on having to deal with for a while.”

“This year, next year, or the year after that. What difference would it really make? We both knew that we'd have a family 

eventually.”

“I know we were planning on having children but the thing about those kind of plans are that they're in the future and now 

reality has set in. The only real difference would be how old we'll be when this child makes us grandparents. OH SHIT!”

“What’s the matter Gus?”

“It just occurred to me, we're going to have to tell our parents about this change in our family situation.”

“So?”

“Think about it Katherine. Between us we have 6 parents and only 5 of them will be happy to find out that they are going to 

be grandparents. Actually your parents already are grandparents so they won’t even notice the addition of another grandchild 

to the family so that leaves 3 happy parents and 1 very unhappy parent.”

“OH SHIT you’re right Brian is going to have a cow. Your mothers'll be great and Justin'll be a wonder but your Dad is going 

to freak. He's such a good looking man, he can pass for 10 years younger than he is without a problem; yet I’ve never known 

anyone to worry about their age as much as he does. Why is that Gus?”

“The best I’ve ever been able to figure is that for much of his life he tied his self worth into his looks and his ability to 

trick with any man he wanted. He was always afraid that if he visibly aged he would lose both. He's been with Uncle Justin 

so long I always hoped that he would get over his fear of aging but he never has. I can only imagine how much worse he would 

be if he hadn’t managed to hook up with Uncle Justin.”

“I’ve heard the stories Gus, I know the part you played in them being the couple they are today.”

“Well even a two year old had to know that the two of them needed to be together and I did what I had to do. Not that I 

really remember doing it. This conversation isn’t helping with the problem though. How are we going to tell Brian Kinney 

that he's going to be a grandfather without him having a meltdown.”

“Gus you know that he won’t have a meltdown. He'll probably make some smart aleck comments but after the baby is grown and 

has graduated from PSU he'll finally get over the fact that we made him a grandfather and made sure everyone in the world 

knows that he's an old man. Once he gets to that point then he’ll speak to us again, it’ll only take him 15 to 20 years to 

get to that point though.”

“I wish that you were just kidding.”

“I was just kidding Gus. Brian'll handle being a grandfather. Justin'll make sure that he doesn’t overact too much.”

“How do you think we should tell everyone? My first inclination is to wait until after the birth and have them over for 

lunch and introduce them to the baby.”

“That'll work Gus, I just won’t be able to see anyone we or they know for the next 7 months. We’ll just have the four of 

them over for supper this Saturday and tell them. Brian'll be outnumbered 3 to 1 so he'll have to behave. What can he 

really do?”

“Nothing much, never speak to us again, or have a heart attack.”

“Gus you’re acting like a drama queen. Your Dad'll be happy for us and after he gets over the shock he'll plan on being the 

best grandfather a child could ever have.”

“We have another problem as well.”

“What?”

“A name fit for the grandchild of Brian Shawn Kinney.”

“I’ve been thinking about names ever since I took the home pregnancy test the other day. I thought of one that'll work for 

either a boy or a girl.”

“Well don’t keep me in suspense Katherine.”

“I was thinking that Taylor Kinney would be the perfect name for the first grandchild of your Dads.”

“That is a perfect choice Katherine. Uncle Justin and Dad'll both love it and of course with the last name Peterson-Marcus 

all four of my parents will be a part of the baby‘s name. Won‘t your parents feel left out?”

“Like you said they already have grandchildren, with a couple named after them, and we can always use their names for the 

next child.”

“Another child, you really are going to push your luck with Dad.”

“I seem to remember you telling me once that we would have a dozen children some day.”

“I said that but I wasn’t thinking about Dad when I said it.”

“One or twelve your Dad'll love any children of ours with all of his heart.”

“I know, I know but it is kind of fun to worry about how he'll overreact to things. He sold his loft because I saw him and 

Uncle Justin having sex one night when I spent the night with them. I didn’t know what they were doing and just thought they 

were playing horsie. I made up a song about it and I guess it embarrassed him so much that he couldn’t stand the idea of it 

happening again so he started the process of selling the loft and buying their house the very next day.”

“I’ve never heard that story, when did this happen? How were you able to see them?’

“I wasn’t quite 4 and I don’t remember it but I was finally told the story, more or less, a few months before you proposed to 

me. The loft didn‘t have any interior walls and I guess I heard noises that woke me up so when I went to protect them from 

the night monsters I saw them playing and then after they finished I got into bed with them to better protect them from the 

monsters. Anyway Dad freaked and bought the house; which as you know as plenty of interior walls.”

“You were quite the precocious child weren’t you Gus?”

“That's what I’ve been told. I even went dancing at Babylon when I was 9, that one I remember.”

“How did you get into Babylon when you were only 9?”

“Dad decided one night that he wanted to go to Babylon and dance with Uncle Justin and I was spending the weekend so he asked 

me if I wanted to go and of course I said yes. Babylon never had a bouncer that would say no to anyone Brian Kinney wanted 

to bring into the club. So I danced with Uncle Justin, Aunty Em and Dad. I loved doing anything with Dad and Uncle Justin 

back then. I can remember thinking, why did they like this dancing with another guy in this smoke filled place? I loved 

dancing with my Dads but I didn’t like Babylon at all. When I told Mom and Mama that they decided that they would let Dad 

live.”

“That sounds like Melanie. Any other stories you’ve been keeping from me?”

“Probably but I can’t think of any right this minute. Let’s keep the fact that we’ve chosen a name secret from everyone. 

Let them think we're too frazzled to think of a name.”

“Why?”

“I just remembered another story and I want to pull Dad and Uncle Justin’s chains a little bit. Mark my words; both of 

them'll be pulling my chain plenty in the next 7 months.”

“Augustus Brian what are you up to?”

“Did you ever hear the story of how I got my name?”

“Justin picked it the night you were born.”

“He was given the choice of Gus or Abraham. He picked Gus because he said I wouldn’t last a day at school named Abraham. 

Dad thought Gus was a good butch name so he okayed Uncle Justin’s choice. Mama didn’t like Gus that much which is why 

officially my name is Augustus. She wasn‘t thrilled with Gus but she was really upset that Dad asked his trick of the night 

to pick my name. Of course once she got to know Uncle Justin it didn‘t bother her so much.”

“I can just see Melanie staring at Brian, with venom in her eyes, after he involved a trick in her personal life. Why did 

Brian even bring a trick to something so personal?

“For a long time he didn’t know himself. Eventually he was able to tell himself that it was because he knew from that first 

night that he loved Uncle Justin. Then it took him a long time to be able to tell Uncle Justin that little fact.”

“I still don’t see why you don’t want to tell the family that we’ve picked a name?”

“I want to point something out to Uncle Justin. He picked my name but has always refused to let me call him by the name I 

wanted to call him for as long as I can remember. I once tried to call him Justin but it just didn’t sound right and I went 

back to Uncle Justin within a couple of days. He's never been able to give me a good reason why he won’t let me call him 

Papa. So I want to let him think I can’t think of a name for my child and need someone to tell me just like Dad needed him 

to pick out my name. I know that this doesn’t make a lot of sense but just go with the flow. You can tell your parents the 

name if they promise not to tell anyone here in Pittsburgh.”

“You’re right Gus it doesn’t make any sense. Then again a lot of what goes on between you and Justin doesn’t make a lot of 

sense to the rest of the world. Sometimes I think that the two of you are on another world.”

“That reminds me of a dream I had once. Uncle Justin was stolen by aliens and Dad became the leader of the world. I pretty 

much hated Dad because he spent all of his time trying to get Justin back. Then my son led the attack on the aliens but it 

turned out that Justin was the leader of the alien army. After the peace treaty was signed Dad and Justin had a romantic 

dance and disappeared into the night. I wonder what that dream means?”

“It means you drank something you shouldn’t have. What a crazy story.” 

***

Driveway Peterson-Marcus home

“We’re home, I’ll call and invite everyone over for supper this Saturday. We'll break the news then, maybe we should have it 

outside so that when Dad faints he'll fall on something soft.“

“Gus it's March the ground is frozen as hard as a rock. If you really think there's a chance that he'll faint then we will 

just have a floor picnic and he won’t have far to fall. Of course getting Brian Kinney to sit on the floor will be 

achievement all by itself. I just don‘t see why you think Brian is going to react so poorly to this news.”

“If you'd been there when he tried to tell me about the birds and the bees then you'd know why I am worried about his 

fainting.”

“That makes even less sense than keeping the name secret.”

“Dad has always been the biggest prude about sex around me. He led a Don Juan type of life before Uncle Justin and he has 

had a very active sex life with Uncle Justin for over 20 years, sometimes I would wonder how either of them could walk the 

next morning. But bring up anything sexual around me and he starts to hyperventilate. For years I had to trick them into 

thinking I wasn‘t looking before Dad would kiss Uncle Justin. He was afraid that if he did anything sexual with Uncle Justin 

in my presence that people would think he was recruiting me.”

“What does that have to do with telling him that he's going to be a grandfather?”

“Well when we tell him that we're having a baby he's going to have to admit to himself that the two of us have had sex at 

least once and that will start him hyperventilating. It's kind of fun, in a perverted sense, that my sexual life bothers him 

in this way. The King of Liberty Avenue, who had untold numbers of men in his day, gets lightheaded at the mere thought that 

his 24-year old married son actually has sex with his wife.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it. I just don’t think it's possible that Brian'll be as upset at the idea of being a 

grandfather as you think he'll be. I really don’t believe that he'll faint at the idea of us having sex.”

“We’ll see Saturday night won’t we?”

“I’m cold let’s go into the house before I freeze and solve all of our problems with your Dad.”

“That isn’t funny Katherine, I suppose that makes us even for today.”

*** 

“Mom, Mama thanks for coming on such short notice. I‘m sure you had other plans for a Saturday night.”

“What’s up Gus?”

“What do you mean Mama?”

“I mean why did you want us over here on a Saturday night?”

“Couldn’t we just want to have a supper with my mothers and then watch a vid?”

“While that's possible young man we both know it isn’t the reason you called and asked us to come to supper. So what’s up?”

“Can we just wait until Dad and Uncle Justin get here so we can do it once?”

“I knew it, just us or just the guys and it might be a simple Saturday night supper but all four of us; it has to be 

something big.”

“Mel just give it a rest. The guys'll be here soon, Justin doesn’t let Brian be as late to events as he would like.”

“Lindsay you’re taking the fun out of this little event.”

“Melanie quit trying to be like Brian.”

“Lindsay how could you?”

“Because I know that even though you and Brian really do like each other you still will shut up if I remind you that you are 

acting like the Brian of old.”

“Hmph!”

“Mel, Lindsay why don’t the two of you go into the living room while we wait for Brian and Justin to get here. There are 

appetizers just waiting to be tasted. Gus made them from one of Justin‘s recipes.”

“Thanks Katherine, it must be a big deal for appetizers to be part of the arsenal. Worried about Brian’s reaction to the 

news?”

“I’m not but you know Gus and how much he worries about his Dad over reacting to pretty much anything out of the ordinary.”

“Yes Gus has been worrying about Brian’s reactions for almost 25 years now. He has always been overly worried that everyone 

he loves has to be happy.”

“I’m still in the room and my hearing is still perfect.” 

***

“Hi Dad, Uncle Justin. Wow the two of you are looking good. I take it you have plans for later?”

“Yes Sonnyboy your Uncle Justin is taking me dancing and he insisted that I go all out because he wants to dazzle everyone at 

the Country Club with the beauty of his companion.”

“Somehow I don’t see Uncle Justin saying something like that Dad.”

“They you would be wrong Gus because it's a direct quote. Every now and then I want to show him off.”

“Of course I like to be shown off, gives me a reason to wear my newest outfit. Then there's the fun of removing the outfit 

after we're through showing me off.”

“You know Dad sometimes I think I liked it better when you hid your sexual behavior from me.”

“Then you don’t want a detailed description on what I expect Sunshine is going to do to me tonight when we get home.”

“Yes I want that, I want it in explicit detail down to every possible movement of every part of both of your bodies. Of 

course I don’t want to know what the two of you are planning to do to each other. The only thing I care about is that you 

love each other; how you go about telling each other that fact is your business.”

“Hi Katherine have you come to rescue your husband from his father?”

“No I’ve come to see what’s taking the three of you so long. Mel and Lindsay are getting impatient waiting for you to join 

them.”

“The girls are here, that means something's up Justin.”

“Why do you say that Dad?”

“Because I’ve known you for almost 25 years Sonnyboy. You invite us for Saturday supper at the last moment; don’t tell us 

that you’ve invited your mothers as well so of course something's up. Are you still running your plans?”

“I’m not running a plan, I’m not 6 years old anymore. Let’s just go into the living room and have some appetizers.”

“God Sunshine it must be big if they made appetizers.”

“Brian get control of yourself. It's only appetizers and Saturday supper at our son’s house it isn’t the end of the world.”

“We can only hope Sunshine we can only hope.”

“Hi Mel, Linds do you know what's going on. Brian thinks that the world's going to end.”

“We’re in the dark as well Justin.”

“I’m with Brian though, something's up.”

“Melanie there's nothing up, the kids just want to have a Saturday supper with the folks and tell us what mind shattering 

event has occurred in their lives.”

“Justin you always have such a calm way of putting things.”

“I try and you have to admit that I’ve had a lot of practice considering who I live with.”

“Sunshine in case you forgot I‘m in the room.”

“Dad are you sure you don’t want to sit on the couch?”

“Why is there something wrong with this chair?”

“The couch is much softer and lower to the ground.”

“Mel I think that it's going to get very interesting very soon.”

“I have to agree with you Lindsay.”

Katherine moves around the room giving everyone a glass of Champaign.

“Everyone I would like to make a toast.”

“Ok Gus what's going on?”

“You'll know soon enough Dad. Katherine the next step in the plan.”

“Gus you really weren’t serious about that were you?”

“Yes Katherine I am, please do as we planned.”

“Sorry Brian.”

“Gus why is your wife putting pillows on the floor in front of me?”

“It's just a precaution Dad.”

“Brian, your Sonnyboy is afraid that you'll pass out once he actually gets around to making his toast.”

“Justin I think we're going to have to change our plans. I think we're going to be spending the night in a mental hospital 

while Sonnyboy is being evaluated instead of dancing the night away at the Country Club.”

“Brian just let him make his toast, I’m sure it'll make everything clear.”

“Sunshine why are you giving me one of your smiles?”

“Oh I don’t know, Gus get on with your toast.”

“Mom, Mama, Dad, and Uncle Justin you have all been wonderful parents to me and now you have the opportunity to be wonderful 

grandparents. To my parents I love you all.”

“Gus that's wonderful.”

“Congratulations Katherine.”

“When?”

“What's going on here? What's that supposed to mean?”

“Brian we know you're smarter than that. What's going on with you?”

“I’m trying to deny the obvious what do you think Sunshine? Augustus Brian Peterson-Marcus how could you do this to me?”

“See Katherine I told you. Somehow Dad I don‘t think getting my wife pregnant is doing anything to you.”

“Congratulations you little scamp, when is the due date? How long does Brian have to pretend that he isn’t old enough to be 

a grandfather?”

“I’m due in October Justin.”

“Katherine have you thought about names yet? Abraham is still a family name that's available if you have a boy.”

“Mama we haven’t had time to think about names yet. I’m still kind of frazzled at the idea of being a father. I’m sure glad 

that I had two great examples to remember when I have to actually act like a father.”

“Gus you'll be a fine father.”

“The baby is due in October and we haven’t even begun to think about names. Dad you're being quiet. What do you think about 

our news?”

“Well Sonnyboy I hope you are happy?”

“What do you mean Dad?”

“You couldn’t keep your dick in your pants and now people are going to think that I’m old enough to be a grandfather. How 

could you do that to me after everything I‘ve done for you?”

“Dad I’m a married man, I’ve been married for over a year and you expect me to keep my dick in my pants when I have a 

beautiful wife who I love with all of my heart. Have you ever kept your dick in your pants? Would you even consider keeping 

your dick in your pants when you have someone you love as much as you love Uncle Justin in your bed? Why did I think you 

would be happy for me? All you can worry about is growing old. Well the thought of being a father scares me shitless. 

Pardon me if I don’t worry about whether my having a child makes people think you're old enough to be a grandfather. Why are 

all of you looking at me with Sunshine smiles?”

“Gus are you ever going to learn when Brian is pulling your chain?”


	3. The Gus Chronicles(Adult Years)

OCTOBER 2025

Brian Kinney, along with his lover Justin Taylor, was having a wonderful day, even if he was in a hospital waiting room. But 

this time he was in a waiting room for a good reason, his son Gus, who Brian usually called ‘Sonnyboy’, was going to become a 

father for the first time. Brian tried to ignore the fact that this meant that he was going to be a grandfather. 

All four of Gus’ parents were in the hospital waiting for the birth of their first grandchild. Katherine’s parents lived in 

California and so weren’t there in person but they were there in spirit and waiting for a phone call from the Pennsylvania 

grandparents once the birth occurred. 

The remainder of the Kinney pseudo family, Michael Novotny and his mother Debbie, Emmett Hunnicutt, and Ted Schmidt were also 

in the maternity waiting room. Justin’s mother Jennifer was at her home waiting for the phone call announcing the birth of 

her first great-grandchild. 

Lindsay Peterson and Melanie Marcus, Gus’s mothers, along with Brian and Justin were trying to keep Gus from getting overly 

worried at the length of time Katherine had been in labor. 

“Brian why do you have a shit eating grin on your face?” 

“Do I, Justin? I guess I’m just remembering all of the times that brought us to this point in our lives.” 

“Well don’t keep them to yourself, tell us; after all we have time to kill.” 

“Sunshine have I ever told you that you're very bossy?” 

“Not that I can remember.” Justin answered with one of his patented sunshine smiles on his handsome face.

“All right then I’ll tell you, if just to shut you up.” Brian grinned at his lover. 

“Of all the times I’ve jacked off; who'd have thought that the time I shot into a cup would be so important. I certainly 

didn’t. I agreed to do it as a favor to Lindsay. She insisted that I was the only man she would consider to be the sperm 

donor for her child she wanted to raise with Melanie. Not that Melanie was thrilled at the choice.” 

“Well Brian I came to accept it about the time Gus became his own person and started running all of our lives. I couldn‘t 

imagine having a different son then and if he hadn‘t had you as his father then he would have been a different child.” 

“Mama I never ran your lives.” 

“Sonnyboy from the day you ran your first plan, that got Justin and I back together, you've been running all of our lives one 

way or the other.” 

“Well I had to get the two of you back together so that the two of you would be happy again. But running that plan doesn't 

explain the idea that I ran all of your lives.” 

“Don’t worry, if Katherine doesn’t have this baby soon we'll probably tell each other every story we ever knew while we're 

waiting to become grandparents and then you'll know why we think you've run our lives since that day in the sandbox.” 

“Dad!” 

“Augustus Brian when are you ever going to learn when your chain is being pulled?” 

“I don’t know Uncle Justin, probably never.”

"It's interesting Gus that you give that same answer every time I ask the question."

"I have to let you think you've some control over your life, and letting you think I don't know when you're pulling my chain 

is just a little item I can let you have control over."

"Good answer Gussy."

"Thanks Aunty Em." 

“God I‘m never going to admit to being a grandfather. I was thinking I’ll just have the child call me Brian, that way 

strangers will just think it's an uppity child instead of me being old enough to be a grandfather.” 

“Brian you'll never change will you? You aren’t old and you never will be, you're Brian Kinney for fuck’s sake.” 

“Justin mind your language in front of your baby boy.” 

“Dad! Though to be truthful it always surprised me when Uncle Justin cussed though it never seemed out of the ordinary when 

you used the same language.”

“Where was I? Oh yeah I never once thought that I'd have anything to do with the child I agreed to father but once I looked 

into his eyes and held him that first time I was lost. I never even thought of not having you in my life Gus. You became 

Sonnyboy almost immediately and I've never regretted having you in my life. There were times when you were nothing but 

aggravation but they were always outnumbered by the times you were a joy by about 10 orders of magnitude.” 

“What?” 

“Remember your algebra Gus, that was the only subject that you ever had problems with in school.”

“I’ve never used it in the real world either.” 

“Tell us that when this baby is taking Algebra in school which will be about next week the way time is passing.” 

“We haven’t even figured out a name yet, how do you think I can think about how I'll deal with school problems?” 

“You haven’t picked out names yet? What? Are you expecting some blond twink to come through the door and tell you what to 

name the child?” 

“Brian Shawn Kinney, how could you say that?” 

“Easy Justin Craig Taylor, because I love you.” 

“Another story I don’t remember, right?” 

“Well Gus you should remember that one I’m sure Melanie told it to you once or twice.” 

“Brian you asshole!” 

“Mel I’m just trying to kill time remember.” 

“On with the history." 

“Thanks Mikey, I could always count on you to keep me on the straight and narrow.” 

“Brian you asshole.” 

“Now now Mikey don’t sound like Mel.” 

“Get on with the story Brian.” 

“OK Emmett. I guess the next big step was when Gus tricked Justin and I into getting back together. If he hadn‘t then we 

probably would've been too stupid or proud to do it on our own. If we weren‘t a couple then Gus‘ life is totally different 

and he doesn‘t even meet Katherine let alone marry her and get her pregnant. I wouldn't be sitting here worrying about being 

old enough to be a grandfather. Don't get me wrong guys, I'm happy to be a grandfather I just don't like the idea of being 

old enough to be a grandfather and I certainly don't want to look old enough to be a grandfather.” 

“Dad! Enough with the old crap. Get on with the story so I don't have to think about the fact that I'm going to be a father 

in the next few hours.” 

“OK Sonnyboy and you really don't think that you run our lives. Next in the timeline Gus got me and my mother back together 

which made me a much better person and thus made my relationship with Justin even stronger.” 

“You can say that again especially with that fine Irish lilt you use when you think about the trip the 3 of us took to 

Ireland just before she died.” 

“Don’t interrupt me when I’m on a roll Sunshine. Then came the great Prom plan. Gus have I ever gotten even for that 

ridiculously romantic plan you put us through? Which led to Gus deciding he was going to marry Katherine the day he met her. 

That was one of the few times Sunshine didn‘t know what to say.” 

“Brian!” 

“Well you didn’t, at least for a few seconds.” 

“Brian wait until we get home.” 

“Promise or threat Sunshine? Then we had the disaster with Craig, luckily love won in the end. I'm glad Justin that you and 

your father were able to at least talk to each other before he died.” 

“Well Gus was finally able to convince me that he was truly sorry for what he'd done and said to me and I wish that we'd more 

time to get to know each other again but that's water under the bridge. Thanks again Gus for giving me those few months with 

him in my life again.” 

“Can I get back to the story? We then had the horror of the kidnapping but in the long run it made us a stronger family. Of 

course we came up with the rule that Gus couldn’t come home unless he called first to let us know that he was coming home. 

That bothered you some didn’t it Sonnyboy?” 

“Only a little and only when I got in trouble for not remembering to follow the rule and that only happened once. What 

bothered me more was your insistence on asking me every time I came home, and whenever I called home as well, if I was going 

to propose to Katherine this time.” 

“Well we had to keep you on your toes, you were following the family tradition.” 

“Brian!” 

“Sunshine I’m eternally grateful that you chased me and chased me. I’m just so sorry that my demons made me make you choose 

to move out of the Loft. I am also so happy that Gus made us see the light. Just wait Gus; someday this new child in the 

family will do something to make you fix a poor choice you'll make. It's a part of life that our children save us from 

ourselves at least once. I still remember Gus proposing to Katherine while he was in his cap and gown following his 

graduation from Penn State. Why so public Gus?” 

“I just didn’t want to have you ask me again when I was going to propose. Besides it was Katherine‘s idea anyway.” 

“What?” 

“Sure, she proposed to me the night before, told me she was tired of waiting and wasn’t going to let me off of the hook. 

Then she came up with the idea of me proposing just after the graduation ceremony in front of all our friends and family.”

“That brings us to the wedding itself. I thought that there was going to be a problem when Justin refused to have a 

commitment ceremony with me as part of your wedding. Why did you ask us to do that Gus?” 

“I just thought that it made sense, you two'd been together for over 20 years it was time for you to tie the knot in the only 

way possible and I wanted to share my special day with two of the most special people in my life. I love you both so much I 

can’t tell you. When Uncle Justin just flatly said no, he wouldn’t even think of taking something away from Katherine and my 

special day I was flabbergasted. But I learned from the disaster with Grandpa not to push Uncle Justin and I just let it go. 

Can you tell me now why you were so against it Uncle Justin?” 

“No I can’t, other than the same reason I gave you at the time, I didn’t want to take anything away from your special day.” 

“It wouldn’t have taken anything away Uncle Justin.” 

“I disagree and it's in the past so lets just get on with waiting.” 

“Did anyone bring a deck of cards?” 

“Gus you and Katherine really haven’t picked out names?” 

“Well we've a few ideas but we're waiting to find out if it's a boy or girl Mama.” 

“What are the choices?” 

“Aunty Em you'll find out when we decide, we do want to surprise you.” 

Finally a nurse came and got Gus so he could be with Katherine for the birth of their first child.

An hour later Brian, Justin, Lindsay, and Melanie were called into Katherine’s room. The rest of the gang followed and stood 

in the doorway. Katherine was sitting up in the bed and Gus was holding their child. 

“Everyone I want you to meet your grandson, Taylor Kinney Peterson-Marcus.” 

"Gussy that's a wonderful name but not really all that surprising."

"Isn't it a surprise that it isn't surprising?"

"He's got you there Em."

"Shut up Teddy."

Gus then took the baby around the room to introduce him to his grandparents. 

“Tay this is your Grandma Linds and Grandma Mel. Here's your Granddaddy Brian, don’t listen when he tells you to just call 

him Brian, and this is Uncle Justin.” 

“Gus I’m finally ready to be called Papa.” 

Gus stared at Justin then gave the baby to Brian and grabbed his Uncle Justin in a bear hug. 

“Papa, oh Papa---I’ve wanted to hear that for over 20 years.” 

Everyone in the room was thrilled at this stunning announcement. 

Gus just started sobbing with joy in his happiness at finally hearing what he had wanted to hear since he was a boy. 

Taylor just gurgled in his Granddaddy Brian’s arms.


	4. The Gus Chronicles(Adult Years)

Wednesday September 13 2028

 

“Kinnetic Advertising, Brian Kinney’s Office.”

“Hi Cynthia, this is Justin, is Brian free?”

“He’s on another other line, but he should be through in a few minutes. How’s your leg?”

“I got the cast off this morning. It’s stiff but I think I’ll be back to normal in a day or two. I’ll be back to work on Monday. Thanks for asking.”

“Brian never told me how you broke your leg in the first place, he just looked kind of odd when I asked him. If I’m not being too nosy how did you break your leg?”

“How long have you worked for Brian? I would think he’s looked odd at your non-business questions more often than not. I imagine Brian didn’t tell you how I broke my leg since he pushed me out of the tree-house.”

“He did what?”

“He didn’t mean to Cynthia. Let’s just say he was pushing me in a very life affirming way and the door of the tree-house had some dry rot and it gave way and I fell out.”

“Oh, My, God. No wonder he didn’t tell me what happened. You two are how old, and you’re fucking in a tree house? He’s off the other line I’ll connect you to him.”

“Thanks Cynthia, I’m sure that we’ll be fucking each other when we’re in a nursing home and have to use walkers in order to get to the other‘s bed.”

“Brian, Justin’s on line 2.”

“Thanks Cynthia.”

“I’ve missed having you in the building Justin, here’s Brian.”

“Kinney.”

“Hi Brian, I’m home from the doctor’s office safe and sound and minus a cast. Come home as soon as possible as I have a surprise for you.”

“That’s great Sunshine, as long as it doesn’t involve you seducing me in the tree-house.”

“Fuck you Brian; you know full well it was your idea to test the strength of the floor-boards of the tree-house.”

“Don’t remind me Justin. You do know how scared I was when you went tumbling down those stairs. Luckily it wasn’t that far and you weren’t hurt too much.”

“You can say that since you weren’t the one who broke his leg in two places and has had to be in a cast for 6 weeks. Though I have to admit that having you do all of the work in our sex life for the last six weeks has been somewhat pleasurable.”

“Sunshine I can see that smile over this phone line.”

“I should hope so since just thinking about you riding my cock like a bull rider makes me smile at the oddest times. The lab technician, that removed my cast, told me that most people don‘t smile while she cuts a cast off.”

“I’ll be home as soon as possible, it shouldn’t be more than an hour or two. Tell me you didn’t tell Cynthia how you broke your leg.”

“Why do you ask that Brian?”

“Because she’s looking through my office window with a shit eating grin on her face.”

“She did ask me how I broke my leg and I didn’t see any reason not to tell her since she isn’t, technically, a part of the family. Besides it’s been very hard not to tell anyone that even at your advanced age you still ejaculate hard enough to push me through a door.”

“I’m not at an advanced age and I’m never going to be at an advanced age; just like you’ll always be my beautiful blond twink no matter how old and gray you get. If you‘d told anyone in the family what had happened then everyone in Pittsburgh would know by now. Plus Deb would‘ve slapped me up one side and down the other for hurting her Sunshine for my own pleasure.”

“She’s never going to change is she?”

 

**********

 

“Now Taylor you remember our plan don’t you?”

“Yes Papa I remember, when Granddaddy asks what his surprise is I’ll come running from the dining room and tell him that it’s me.”

“That’s the plan Taylor, Brian’ll be so happy that you’re spending the night with us. He misses having his Sonnyboy in the house. Taylor where are your shoes and socks?”

“Over by the couch Papa, the same place Granddaddy leaves his shoes and socks. Tonight is going to be so much fun Papa, I can’t believe that Mommy and Daddy are finally letting me stay with you and Granddaddy for the entire night. Daddy thinks I’m growing up too fast. Papa why’re you laughing like that?”

“I just remembered a joke I heard at the Doctor’s office this morning Taylor. Taylor you do have your underwear on don’t you?”

“Why wouldn’t I have my underwear on?”

There’s your Granddaddy’s car pulling into the garage, go hide and remember to come running when he asks about his surprise.”

“OK Papa.”

 

**********

 

Justin meets his lover at the door from the garage with a Sunshine smile and a lip-devouring kiss.

“How was your day Brian? Did you sign the deal with Husker Cosmetics?”

“My day was fine and of course they signed with us. Now what’s my surprise and it better be more than that kiss, as fine of a kiss as it was?”

“Just wait a bit and your surprise will become evident.”

“It’s not another nude painting of me?”

“It’s me Granddaddy it’s me. I’m your surprise, are you surprised?”

“Taylor what’re you doing here? Of course I’m surprised. Where’re your Daddy and Mommy?”

“They went on a day trip, whatever that is, Granddaddy. They said I could stay here and watch over the two of you. What does that mean Granddaddy, can’t you and Papa watch over yourselves?”

“Your Daddy was just making a joke Taylor.”

“Well it isn’t very funny.”

“Your Daddy isn’t a very funny guy, Gus’ Sonnyboy.”

“Well Granddaddy you’re funny enough for you and Daddy. Isn’t he Papa?”

“Don’t get me involved in this Taylor.”

Brian and Justin sit down on the couch. Brian takes off his shoes and socks and if asked wouldn’t know that he had done so. Taylor climbs into his Granddaddy’s lap.

“Granddaddy you certainly have a comfortable lap. Is that why Papa sits in it so much?”

“You’ll have to ask him. How was your day Taylor?”

“It was ok I suppose. Mommy woke me up and we had breakfast. I wish she would quit making oatmeal, that stuff is just yucky and she makes me eat every bite. Then I watched my shows while Mommy cleaned up the kitchen and kissed Daddy before he left for work. Then we came here to get Papa so we could take him to the Doctor. Papa said they used a chain saw to cut off his cast but I didn’t believe him. He can’t pull my chain.”

“He did, did he? Sunshine you should know better than to try to pull Gus’ Sonnyboy’s chain. Then what did you do?”

“Papa was so happy he got his cast off that we had to stop at the park and play tag. Papa runs pretty fast for an old guy. I’m kidding Papa. I know you aren’t old; Granddaddy is the old one in the family. Though Granddaddy you don’t look very old.”

“Good save Taylor.”

“What do you mean Granddaddy?”

“Nothing Taylor, go on with your story.”

“Well after the park we ate lunch at the Diner. Granny Deb made me a Kinney banana split for dessert. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings but she forgot all of the good stuff. All it had was one scoop of ice cream and a little bit of caramel.”

“Well the next time we go to the Diner we’ll have to teach her how to make a TK banana split, one with three kinds of ice cream and all of the good stuff. How does that sound Gus’ Sonnyboy?”

“It sounds like a sure trip to a tummy ache Brian.”

“Sunshine you can be a wet blanket some of the time.”

“Tell you what Brian, I’ll make three TK banana splits for dessert and if you eat all of yours then you can teach Deb how to make them.”

“Just what I said before, Sunshine you can be a wet blanket some of the time.”

“What’re we having for supper Papa?”

“I was thinking chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, with asparagus spears in a garlic butter sauce would taste pretty good.”

“Do I like asparagus Papa?”

“As much as your Granddaddy does Taylor.”

“Granddaddy do we like asparagus?”

“Gus’ Sonnyboy we like anything your Papa cooks, except his mutton stew?”

“When did I ever make mutton stew?”

“See Taylor it was so bad that even your Papa doesn’t remember it.”

“Brian don’t fill the boy’s head with nonsense.”

“Is that the best you can do Sunshine?”

“It’s the best I can do with 3 sets of ears in the room.”

“What do you want to do until supper Taylor?”

“I’m ready for a nap Granddaddy. That game of tag with Papa wore me out.”

“He’s good at wearing people out.”

“Huh.”

“Well I guess it’s naptime then Gus’ Sonnyboy. How about the three of us taking a nap on this soft couch?”

“Not yet Granddaddy, you have to do something first.”

“What do I have to do?”

“Kiss Papa.”

“What?”

“Kiss Papa.”

“OK Taylor that’s something I can do.”

Brian gives Justin a peck on the cheek.

“Granddaddy you have to kiss him like you mean it.”

Brian gives Justin a peck on the lips.

“Granddaddy kiss Papa so that he knows that you’re kissing him.”

“Like this Gus’ Sonnyboy.”

Brian consumes Justin’s mouth until they both have to come up for air. 

“Was that good enough of a kiss for you Taylor?”

“Yes Granddaddy it was, you should do it more often since it makes Papa look so happy. Now you and I can take a nap.”

“What about your Papa taking a nap with us?”

“Don’t be silly Granddaddy, Papa has to make supper.”

“He’s got you there Brian. You two take your nap and I’ll go slave in the kitchen.”

“Lay down Granddaddy so I can get comfortable.”

“Taylor you’re quite the slave master.”

“Huh.”

“Just close your eyes and go to sleep. Justin will wake us when supper is ready, won‘t you Sunshine?”

“Yes Brian I’ll wake you since I want to see you eat a whole TK banana split.”

 

*********

“Is he down for the count?”

“For at least an hour I’m guessing.”

“Then he’ll be awake when supper is ready and will be ready to go to bed at bedtime.”

“Do you need any help with supper?”

“You can peel the potatoes.”

“What’s up with our little surprise?”

“You remember that Gus has a meeting in Philadelphia tomorrow. He got the idea that he and Katherine could go this afternoon and have a romantic night in the City of Brotherly Love. Since Mel and Linds are off on another vacation Gus asked me if we would watch Taylor so that they could have some alone time. I said yes since I knew that you would have no problem with Taylor staying with us tonight. It’s hard to believe but I think he’s growing up faster than Gus did. He’s certainly taller than his Daddy was at the same age.”

“I just hope he stops growing before he gets taller than me, like Gus did. I know it’s shallow of me but I don’t want to have to look up at my grandson some day.”

“Yes it’s shallow of you, but I can’t even hope that he won’t be taller than me.”

“You’re still the biggest person in this family. 

Justin I’ve been wondering why you finally let Gus call you Papa when Taylor was born. Why didn’t you let him call you Papa from the beginning?”

“The reason is kind of embarrassing Brian. 

You know it surprised me that as fast as Gus always wanted to grow up that he kept calling me Uncle Justin all of those years. I always expected that he would just call me Justin and he did for a week or two back when he was 10 or 11. If he’d called me Papa back then I would’ve answered him but he never pushed it. He always asked if he could call me Papa and I always said no. I just didn’t want to tell him the reason I wouldn‘t let him call me Papa.”

“Gus never thought of you as an Uncle, he thought of you as his Dad as much as he thought of me as his Dad. The Uncle Justin meant the same thing to him as when he used Dad for me. Try as you might to avoid the question I still want to know why you didn’t go with Papa to begin with.”

“Do you remember when it first came up in the first place?”

“Not really, it’s been a long time ago.”

“It happened just before the famous ‘horsie incident’.”

“I don’t remember a ‘horsie incident’ and besides it led to us buying this house with its wonderful foyer.”

“You know Brian that even after all of the years we’ve been together I still find the way your mind works to be utterly fascinating.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Like that Kinney version of the Taylor smile isn’t giving you away.”

“Am I my smiling, it must because of the quality of these potatoes I’m peeling for our evening repast. While this little diversion has been interesting it isn‘t telling me why you insisted Gus call you Uncle Justin instead of Papa.”

“Ok I’ll finish my story, just to keep you happy and peeling those potatoes. 

We’d been back together for about a year and I simply wasn’t sure enough in our relationship lasting for the long term. Hell Mikey was still telling me that you would never change and that I shouldn’t expect you to change just to keep me happy.”

“I don’t know why Mikey couldn’t understand why I changed my ways for you. There are times when he still doesn’t get it after all of these years we‘ve been together as the happy homosexual couple that we are.”

“I just decided that there were identical twins, the evil Mikey who couldn’t share you with anyone let alone a little blond twink that wouldn’t go away, and the good Michael who really was your best friend who wanted the best for you even if it was a little blond twink that wouldn’t go away.”

“That really explains away some of his behavior over the years, why didn’t I think of it? Get back to the story Justin.”

“I just figured that Gus would be hurt less if he lost an Uncle than if he lost a Papa.”

“What? You mean that you were afraid that I would throw you away again; after all of the work Gus did to get us back together. I thought I was the one with demons. At that point in time you couldn’t have gotten rid of me even if you’d wanted to. I learned my lesson during those months we were apart. No Sunshine in Brian’s life was a terrible time and I wasn’t about to have it happen again. That’s one of the good things about my being 12 years older than you. I’ll go first and you’ll have to live without me. You’ll be able to handle that since you are so much stronger than I am. I don’t even want to think about trying to live if you were to die before me.”

“Brian neither of us are going to die anytime soon and you would do fine since you would have to do so.”

“I’m glad you think so but I know that if you were to die then I would be joining you very soon since my heart would break. But enough of this death talk get back to your story.”

“While I should’ve known that we were together for the long haul I simply was afraid that you would tire of me. But I also didn’t think Gus would keep calling me Uncle Justin even after he got married. If I’d known he would do that I would’ve gone with having him call me Justin.

Anyway I guess I decided while we were in that waiting room listening to you remember how we had gotten to that point in our lives that I would just have to bite the bullet and tell Gus that he could call me Papa. It’s amazing that as long as he called me Uncle Justin he hasn’t once called me that since Taylor was born.”

“You ought to know by now that when we Kinneys get what we want we never let go. Gus wanted to call you Papa and once you let him do so he was never going to forget. 

The potatoes are in the steamer, should I go wake Taylor up and get him ready for supper or do you need more time to finish?”

“Give him another 10 minutes, he’s had a busy day.”

As Justin is finishing up with flouring the chicken fried steaks, it takes a while to do such a mundane task when your lover is kissing you like his life depends on it, Taylor wanders into the kitchen.”

“I know what Daddy means now, you two just glow when you’re kissing each other. When’s supper going to be ready Papa? I’m starving.”

“Taylor Kinney Peterson-Marcus where are you pants and underwear?”

“Well Papa I remembered why you asked me if I had my underwear on. I’m almost three and I can get my pants off but I couldn’t get them back on after I took off my underwear to be like Granddaddy. Will you help me put them back on?

Granddaddy why don’t you wear underwear under your pants? Granddaddy why’re you getting so red?”


	5. The Gus Chronicles(Adult Years)

November 2029

“Justin tell me again how I got stuck with babysitting Taylor for the next two days - - - - by myself.”

“Life isn’t fair Brian that’s how the mighty Kinney got stuck with caring for his grandson. Even Brian Kinney has to deal 

with the vagaries of the Universe. Don‘t tell Taylor you‘re babysitting since he doesn‘t consider himself a baby. He's 

almost as bad as his father was about growing up too quickly.”

“That certainly isn’t much of an answer Sunshine. 

Tell me about it, I made that mistake last week and got a five-minute talking to for my trouble. I’m not a baby Granddaddy 

I’m four years old and you have to live with it. 

He's turning out so much like Gus it's scary.”

“The answer to your question is simple Brian I agreed to keep Taylor for Gus and Katherine when they went to California for 

her mother’s surgery. Melanie and Lindsay had left for a 3-week vacation in the Caribbean before the kids found out about 

Maria‘s surgery. Life got sticky when I found out this morning that I have to go to this emergency meeting with one of our 

clients, in Dallas, for the Kinney-Taylor agency. That leaves you by yourself to take care of Taylor until I get back Friday 

night. I've confidence that Taylor will keep you out of trouble while I‘m gone.”

“Funny Sunshine funny but I could go to the meeting and let you stay and take care of Taylor.”

“Yes you could but what do you know about the artistic design for the campaign that the meeting is about?”

“Nothing but I could still go and pretend.”

“Brian are you afraid of being alone with your grandson?”

“I don’t do afraid Justin, you know that. I don’t do afraid but I do terrified.”

“Brian Shawn Kinney you'll do fine. Taylor's very mature for a four-year-old and won’t be more than you can handle. Just 

make sure he eats, bathes, and goes to bed on time. Don’t let him run you ragged, don’t do everything he wants to do and 

make sure that you eat, bathe and go to bed on time.”

“Justin I’m 58 I can’t keep up with a 4-year-old. I’ll probably lose him the first time we go out of the house and then what 

will Sonnyboy and Katherine think of me when they get home?”

“Brian you won’t lose the boy, if I didn’t know you better I would believe this nonsense but I know you well enough to know 

that you're just trying to pull my chain. I have to go; I’ll see you Friday night. I love you Brian. I’ll say good bye to 

Taylor on my way out.”

“I love you too Justin. Even if you are leaving me here all alone with a 4-year-old.”

“Actually Brian it's the other way around, I’m leaving the 4-year-old here all alone with you.”

“I’m glad you said that with a Sunshine smile Justin.”

***

“Taylor I’m leaving for my meeting. You'll behave for your Granddaddy won’t you?”

“Yes Papa. Me and Granddaddy'll have a good time so you don’t have to worry about us.”

“I know sweety but your Granddaddy is worried that something will happen so you make sure to listen to everything he says and 

don’t pick on him too much. I should be back Friday night before your bedtime. Make sure your Granddaddy eats something 

when you do.”

“Don’t worry Papa we'll be fine. I'll make sure he doesn‘t miss you too much Papa.”

“Good bye Taylor, I love you.”

“Bye Papa me too.”

***

“Taylor, what do you want to have for supper tonight?”

“Mommy always has fish sticks on Wednesdays Granddaddy. Can we have that?”

“I doubt that we have any in the house Taylor. We probably have some tuna and I could make tuna salad. Is that ok with 

you?”

“Tuna salad, yuck. Who puts tuna on lettuce?”

“It isn’t that kind of salad Taylor. Why don’t we go to a restaurant that serves fish sticks?”

“No Granddaddy I don’t want to get dressed up. I‘ll try your fish salad.”

“I don’t want to make you eat something you won’t like.”

“Granddaddy if you make it I'll like it.”

“I’ll look in the freezer maybe Justin does has some fish sticks hidden in there for you.”

“I don’t have to have fish sticks Granddaddy.”

“There aren’t any fish sticks Taylor but there are fish fillets so I'll make a batch of fried fish with french fries. Do you 

know what that is called in England?”

“Fried fish and french fries?”

“No, it's called fish and chips.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know why but it is.”

“Ok we'll have fish and chips for supper and I can tell my friends that I had England food at my Granddaddy’s”

***

“Did you like supper Taylor?”

“Yes everything was good Granddaddy. I’m ready to go to bed.”

“Do you take your bath in the evening or the morning?”

“I take a bath when Mommy thinks I’m too dirty to get into my bed. I don’t take a bath everyday. Who likes taking a bath 

everyday?”

“Wait until you’re older Taylor, you'll find that you can have fun during a shower or a bath.”

“Is that why Daddy says you have an extra big shower?”

“I’m really going to have to talk to your Daddy when he gets home. Ok Taylor no bath tonight, do you need to be tucked in?”

“No but I have to go to the bathroom and I don’t need you to watch me do that.”

“I’ll see you in the morning then Taylor. We'll figure out what we're going to do with our Thursday at breakfast.”

“Goodnight Granddaddy. Don’t miss Papa too much.”

“Too late Taylor, I miss him already. Good night Gus‘ Sonnyboy.”

“Granddaddy why do you call my Daddy Sonnyboy?”

“I suppose I started calling him that because that's what my father called me when I was a boy.”

“Why doesn’t Daddy call me Sonnyboy?”

“I don’t know Taylor, I never thought about it. We'll have to ask him when he and your mother get home from California.”

“I almost forgot Granddaddy to do something I promised Papa.”

“What did you almost forget Gus’ Sonnyboy.”

“Bend over Granddaddy.” KISS KISS

“Why two kisses Taylor?”

“The first one was from me Granddaddy and the second one was from Papa. He didn’t want you to forget about him while he's 

away. He said I should slip you some tongue, what does that mean?”

“You never have to worry about that Taylor I never forget about your Papa. It also sounds like I‘m going to have to have a 

talk with your Papa as well as with your Daddy.”

“Good night Granddaddy, sleep tight and dream about Papa.”

“Good night you little scamp.”

***

“Good morning Granddaddy, what’s for breakfast?”

“How about pancakes and scrambled eggs?”

“Can I scramble the eggs, Daddy taught me how to do that.”

“Yes you can, do you know who taught your Daddy how to cook?”

“Papa did and he promised that he would teach me when I get older.”

“What do you want to do today Taylor?”

“First we have to wash the dishes and put everything away. Then we can go to the Art Museum since the zoo is closed for the 

winter. The Museum is a Papa thing, right Granddaddy. After lunch we can go to the park and then to a movie. After the 

movie we can come home and have supper then play cards.”

“Your Papa does like going to Museums. I didn’t know you know how to play cards. What games do you know?”

“I don’t know any but Daddy said you and Papa play Around at night and I figured you could teach me how to play that game so 

that you won’t miss playing Around with Papa.”

“Your Daddy said that did he, well I think I need to add another question to the ask Sonnyboy list when he gets back from 

California.”

“Will you teach me how to play Around?”

“I think Old Maid or War would be better card games for you to learn Taylor.”

“Ok Granddaddy I'll learn whatever you want to teach me.

“Taylor do you really want to go to an Art Museum?”

“No Granddaddy I want to see the animals but the zoo is closed for the winter.”

“I've an idea give me some time to make a few calls after breakfast.”

“Ok Granddaddy I can watch Vids while you talk on the phone.”

“Taylor I’ve made some plans for this afternoon so we'll go to the park this morning.”

***

“Are you ready to eat Taylor?”

“Yes Granddaddy, did you have fun this morning?”

“Yes I did, I don’t remember the last time I helped make a snowman or lost a snowball fight.”

“Well Granddaddy you throw like a girl.”

“Hmph. Where do you want to eat lunch Gus’ Sonnyboy?”

“I always like eating at the Diner. Oh I forgot. I miss Granny Deb.”

“We all do Taylor we all do. We'll stop for lunch at a fast food place, don’t tell anyone that I took you to one of those 

places, on our way to our afternoon appointment.”

“Appointment, like you and Papa have? Don‘t worry Granddaddy I won‘t tell on you.”

“Yes just like Papa and I have but probably more fun than our appointments.”

“Are you going to tell me what we're going to do on our appointment?”

“No it’s a surprise.”

***

“Hi Orlando, thank you for letting me bring Taylor here this afternoon.”

“No problem Brian, take as long as you like.”

“How’s the wife?”

“Krissy will be upset that she missed you; she took the kids to the mall for an early Christmas shopping expedition. Just 

make sure you close any doors or gates before you leave.”

“Don’t worry Orlando, if I forget Taylor will be sure to remind me, won’t you Gus’ Sonnyboy?”

“Sure Granddaddy, remind you to do what?”

“I promised Mr. Bloom that we would make sure that we close any gates or doors we open during our visit here.”

“Ok I won’t forget Granddaddy. What're we going to see?”

“Let’s go into that little building over there and find out.”

***

“Granddaddy I love you so much. How did you know I would love visiting a real farm? Riding the pony was so much fun. I 

never knew falling off of a sheep could be fun either. It was really nice of Mr. Bloom to let me gather the eggs though that 

one chicken sure didn’t like me taking her eggs. I never knew that milking a cow was such hard work. But Granddaddy why 

wouldn’t you let me play with the baby pigs? They were so cute that I just wanted to pet one. Do you think Daddy and Mommy 

would get me a baby pig for a pet? Did Daddy have a pet when he was a boy? Did you have a pet when you were a boy? Did you 

ever milk anything? Why are you grinning like that Granddaddy?”

“Are you going to let me get a word in edgewise Gus’ Sonnyboy?”

“Mommy says that I get like Papa when I get rolling, what does that mean?”

“Taylor I don’t remember all of your questions so I can’t answer them all. Gus had a kitten when he was about your age but 

it ran away one night. I never had a pet because my Pop didn’t like dogs or cats in the house. I’ve milked an animal or two 

in my day and I didn’t let you play with the piggies because I know enough about farms to know that the Mama Sow would have 

eaten you if you had gotten in the pen with her babies. How would I have explained to your Mommy and Daddy that you were in 

the stomach of a pig?”

“Granddaddy you're pulling my chain. Why do you and Papa get so much fun from pulling people‘s chain?”

“Just a little, but Taylor, sows are very protective of their babies and she wouldn’t have let you play with the babies and 

would very likely have hurt you if you had gotten into the pen. You have to promise me that the next time we go to Orlando’s 

farm that you won’t get into any pen unless an adult says you can.”

“You mean I get to go back. Yes I promise. I had so much fun today. I’m hungry again so we can stop and get something to 

eat and then let’s just go home and not go to the movies. You have to teach me how to play cards so that you won’t miss 

playing Around with Papa.”

“Sounds like a plan to me Gus’ Sonnyboy.”

***

“Taylor why aren’t you in bed, you should’ve been asleep hours ago?”

“I can’t sleep in that room Granddaddy. I remembered that I promised Papa that I would sleep with you so that you would have 

company. Can I sleep with you like I promised Papa? I don‘t know how I forgot last night that I was supposed to sleep with 

you.”

“Sure Taylor climb up here and I'll put you on Papa’s side of the bed.”

“Granddaddy do you sleep naked?” 

“Yes Taylor I do. Do you want me to put something on?”

“No Granddaddy you need to sleep like you always sleep. Does Papa sleep naked too?”

“Papa sleeps in his boxers.”

“Well since I’m taking Papa’s place I need to sleep in my boxers too. I don’t have any boxers. What're boxers?”

“Tell you what Taylor I’ll just get a pair of your Papa’s boxers and a couple of safety pins and solve that little problem. 

Boxers are just a type of underwear.”

“Sounds good to me Granddaddy. You get the boxers and I’ll get ready to wear them.”

“Taylor why are you naked?”

"Well you said boxers are underwear didn‘t you?”

“Yes they are.”

“Well you don’t wear underwear on top of pajamas, that would be silly.”

“Now that you point that out how could’ve I been so silly.”

“Granddaddy you aren’t silly just old and forgetful.”

“I’m glad you learned the sunshine smile from your Papa young man. Now stand up so I can put these on and pin them so that 

they don’t fall off while you're sleeping.”

“Papa really wears these?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“Pink underwear with red hearts kissing each other seems silly to me?”

“I would explain them to you but it’s time you get to sleep.”

“Don’t know the answer do you Granddaddy?”

“You’re getting a lot of practice with that smile aren’t you Gus’ Sonnyboy?”

“Granddaddy can you leave a light on in the bathroom? You won’t tell Papa that I need a light will you?”

“I won’t tell anyone Taylor that'll be our little secret.”

Goodnight Granddaddy.”

“Goodnight Gus’ Sonnyboy.”

***

“Taylor what's the matter, why aren’t you asleep and why do you keep kicking me in the ribs?”

“I’m sorry Granddaddy but I can’t fall asleep and I don’t mean to kick you. This bed is so big it just seems weird to try to 

sleep in it. Will you tell me a story, maybe that'll make me fall asleep?”

“What kind of story do you want to hear?”

“A story about my Daddy when he was a little boy like me.”

“Ok you have to give me a few minutes to think about it though. I’ll just go to the bathroom, do you need to go?”

“No I never have to go in the middle of the night, unless I’m sick.”

“Count your blessings Taylor.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Did you think of a story?”

“Yes I did, I’m going to tell you the story of King Brian, Lord Sunshine, and Prince Sonnyboy.”

“That would be you, Papa and Daddy.”

“I didn’t fool you for very long did I Gus’ Sonnyboy?”

***

“Once upon a time the kingdom of Liberty was in a period of mourning. King Brian and his consort, Lord Sunshine, had 

forgotten how to talk to each other and had split up. The people of Liberty didn’t know how to respond. They didn’t know if 

they should stand by the king or the wonderful Lord Sunshine. Families in the kingdom split down the middle. Some felt that 

the king was right no matter what really happened while others knew that the king had to have done something terrible to 

drive Lord Sunshine away. Almost everyone in the Kingdom had been happy while the Royal Couple were together but now that 

they had split the Kingdom was under a cloud of darkness and dismay. 

People looked to the King for guidance but he was more enigmatic than normal. Those citizens close to the King tried to 

figure out what was wrong. They tried to figure out why the Royal Couple had broken up. Some felt that the King was in the 

wrong while others felt that Lord Sunshine had to have been the problem since he had been the one to leave the relationship 

during a Royal Party. No one really knew the truth of why the split had occurred but everyone had his or her opinion.

King Brian knew that he was at fault in the breakup because he purposely drove Lord Sunshine into the arms of another man, 

Baron Ian of RatFiddle, since he had grown afraid that Lord Sunshine would leave someday. The King decided it would hurt less 

if he drove Lord Sunshine away than if the Lord Sunshine left on his own. King Brian had always been afraid of love because 

he never felt that he deserved to be loved. He was also afraid that if he fell in love then his heart would be captive to 

that other man. King Brian had realized that he loved Lord Sunshine almost from the minute they met though he didn’t admit 

it to himself for many months. 

King Brian had a reputation for making many of his subjects very happy but never twice. King Brian also had a reputation for 

acting like a jerk to anyone that tried to love him. While King Brian told himself that he had done what was best for Lord 

Sunshine it amazed him how much it hurt to no longer have the beautiful young man in his life. King Brian knew better than 

to explain himself to his followers since he knew that none of them could be objective. The only person that King Brian 

could talk to about his feelings was his son Prince Sonnyboy. Prince Sonnyboy was only two so the King knew that he could 

talk to his son but that his son wouldn’t tell him anything he didn’t want to hear.

Lord Sunshine was also miserable without King Brian in his life but he was too proud to say anything to anyone. Lord 

Sunshine had enjoyed the time he spent with Baron Ian but that young man had other obligations and soon had to leave the 

Kingdom of Liberty and move to the Kingdom of Tour where he was the Archduke of Classical. So Lord Sunshine was left on his 

own, his good friend the Baron had left Liberty and King Brian had made it clear that he didn’t want Lord Sunshine in his 

life. While Lord Sunshine tried to go on with his life he felt the need to stay connected to King Brian, if only in a small 

way, by remaining a friend to Prince Sonnyboy. One day when he was feeling especially low he found his way to the home of 

the Ladies, Blonde and Brunette, to visit their son Prince Sonnyboy. Lord Sunshine soon found himself spilling everything 

that he had kept bottled up inside himself about King Brian to the little boy. Since Prince Sonnyboy was so young Lord 

Sunshine wasn’t worried about being told how silly he was for loving a man that couldn’t love him back.

What King Brian and Lord Sunshine missed was the fact that Prince Sonnyboy, though only two, understood what was going on 

between the two most important men in his life and that he decided that he would have to do something about it. Prince 

Sonnyboy knew that King Brian loved Lord Sunshine but felt that he had blown his once chance at love and happiness. Prince 

Sonnyboy knew that Lord Sunshine loved King Brian but that Lord Sunshine had forgotten how to speak the King’s personal 

language and thus no longer could see that the King did love him. 

Prince Sonnyboy being very bright and a very loving boy decided that he would have to get these two men back together. 

Prince Sonnyboy wanted King Brian and Lord Sunshine to be friends again. Prince Sonnyboy decided that if he could get King 

Brian and Lord Sunshine close enough together that they had to talk then they would both realize how much they loved each 

other and that they would forget everything that had gone wrong and work to make the future a better place. Once the two 

were together they would once again rule the Kingdom of Liberty as the Royal Couple they were destined to be. So Prince 

Sonnyboy decided that he would do whatever was necessary to get the two men he loved to admit to themselves that they loved 

each other. Prince Sonnyboy decided that he would just wait until something happened where he could get the two close enough 

that they had to talk to each other. Prince Sonnyboy knew without a doubt that if King Brian and Lord Sunshine actually got 

close enough to talk and took the time to talk instead of running away from each other they would soon be doing much more 

than just talking. Not that Prince Sonnyboy really knew what they would be doing but he knew that they would be kissing and 

liking that enough to get past whatever problems they had let split them up.

Several months after deciding that he had to get King Brian and Lord Sunshine back together, as the Royal Couple, Prince 

Sonnyboy finally had a chance to develop a plan. He had to do it on the spur of the moment but he was up to the challenge. 

Lord Sunshine had agreed to look after Prince Sonnyboy while his mothers went on an adventure. The two young men wound up in 

the local park where Prince Sonnyboy asked Lord Sunshine to draw a picture of the two of them that Prince Sonnyboy could give 

to his father, King Brian. While Lord Sunshine was busy drawing the picture the King saw his son at the park as he was 

driving by and stopped to visit with the boy.

As soon as Prince Sonnyboy saw his father approaching across the park, from the street, he decided that now was the chance he 

had been waiting for. As soon as it became obvious that the King and Lord Sunshine wouldn’t become friends on their own even 

though they did speak to each other the Prince launched into his plan.

He took King Brian by the hand and led him to the sandbox and told him to play in the sand. He then went to Lord Sunshine 

and led him to the sandbox as well. When the two objected to the situation Prince Sonnyboy told them that they agreed to 

play with him that they didn’t have to play with each other. The two men made some more small talk but didn’t get friendly 

so Prince Sonnyboy decided that he had to do more so while the King and Lord Sunshine pretended to ignore each other Prince 

Sonnyboy stood up and then fell into the sand with a shout of pain. Like he expected King Brian and Lord Sunshine both 

reached down to Prince Sonnyboy but since the sandbox was small they bumped into each other and before either knew what was 

happening they were kissing and hugging each other like their lives depended on it. In fact Prince Sonnyboy had to jump out 

of the sandbox before the two men rolling around in the sand squashed him.

That is how Prince Sonnyboy brought King Brian and Lord Sunshine back from the land of denial and reinstated them as the 

Royal Couple of Liberty.”

“Thank you for the story Granddaddy, I think I can fall asleep now.”

“Goodnight Gus’ Sonnyboy.”

***

“Brian Shawn Kinney, I go away for two nights and what do I find when I come home early to surprise you? Who do you have in 

our bed with you?”

“Justin what're you talking about?”

“I’m not blind Brian there's another person in that bed with you. How could you do something like that to me?”

“Justin I haven’t done anything to you. What's your problem?”

“Papa it’s me. Granddaddy didn’t do anything. I slept with him so that he wouldn’t miss you so much. You told me to do 

everything I could to keep Granddaddy happy.”

“Taylor I knew it was you all of the time I was just pulling your Granddaddy’s chain.”

“What is it with you two and pulling chains, why don’t you just buy a real chain and pull it?”

“Why didn’t we think of that Sunshine?”

“Because we're older than four.”


	6. The Gus Chronicles(Adult Years)

JULY 2036

Everyone was there for him yet Gus Peterson-Marcus was all alone. His Dads, Brian and Justin were there to support him. His 

mothers, Melanie and Lindsay were there for him. His in-laws, Robert and Maria had come from California to support him. His 

son Taylor was never far from his side. His brothers-in-law were there too. His aunts and uncles by blood, by marriage, and 

honorary had come to be with him. His cousins of all types were there also. Nephews and nieces were present. Friends were 

there as well. Everyone in Gus’ life was there but Gus was all alone. The most important person in his life wasn’t there. 

The most important person in his life was gone from his life. The most important person in his life was in a fancy box 6 

feet under the ground. The most important person in his life, his wife Katherine, had left him behind. The most important 

person in his life had died 6 weeks after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. While everyone in his life was there 

Gus was all alone. Gus couldn’t remember the last time he'd been so alone.

After the funeral everyone had gone to the hall Brian had hired for the funeral lunch. While Gus and Taylor had received 

condolences from everyone Gus did little more than grunt in reply. Taylor had taken the responsibility of answering for his 

father. Everyone had been very impressed with Taylor’s maturity during Katherine’s illness and even more so on this somber 

day. 

Gus hadn’t handled the sickness and death of Katherine nearly as well as his son had. Since the moment in time when it 

became clear that Katherine wasn’t going to survive Gus had lost all interest in anything besides spending time with 

Katherine while he could. Brian and Justin had taken Taylor to stay with them when it became clear that Gus wasn’t capable 

of looking after his son while dealing with the decline in the health of his wife. The morning of the funeral they had taken 

Taylor home to get his suit. While Taylor had gone upstairs to get the suit Brian and Justin found Gus just sitting at the 

dining room table in his bathrobe.

“Gus why aren’t you getting ready for the funeral?”

“What funeral Papa?”

“Katherine’s funeral Gus.”

“Katherine is making breakfast Papa.”

“Gus Peterson-Marcus, you know full well that Katherine isn’t in the kitchen. This nonsense has to stop you're just hurting 

yourself not to mention what it's doing to Taylor. He's lost his mother he can’t afford to lose his father as well. Go get 

yourself cleaned up and dressed, we have to be at the funeral parlor in an hour.”

“Daddy, if I believe it hard enough then she'll be in the kitchen.”

“Gussy you know that isn’t going to happen. You have to be strong for Taylor. Go get ready Sonnyboy.”

“Dad I’m not your little Sonnyboy that you can order around anymore.”

“Then quit acting like a 3 year-old child. Taylor needs you to be strong. Today will be hard for all of us, we understand 

how hard it is on you but you have to get on with your life. You know Katherine wouldn’t be happy with how you're behaving.”

“All right I’ll get ready but just don’t expect me to be perfect like the two of you. The most important person in my life 

has left me. I can‘t get past that fact. Maybe the two of you can but I can‘t. How would one of you feel if we were 

burying the other one?”

“Gus!”

“Just let him go Brian.”

The ride to the funeral parlor had been very quiet. Gus was back in his funk, Brian was afraid to say anything for fear of 

saying the wrong thing while Justin was just hurting for the men in his life. Taylor knew that it wasn’t a time for idle 

talk.

The funeral had gone as funerals go. Gus had held Tay’s hand so tightly that the boy wondered if he would ever feel his 

fingers again. Brian and Justin had stood behind and to the side of their son so that they could support him emotionally as 

well as physically if needed.

The ride to the hall had been as quiet as the ride to the funeral parlor. As soon as everyone started seeking Gus out to 

offer his or her condolences Taylor had taken over. While Gus just stood there and barely acknowledged the presence of 

whoever was talking to him Taylor made the proper answers. He knew who everyone was, even people that he really had never 

met before.

***

 

“Tay you know that you can call anytime you need to talk.” 

“Yes Uncle Michael, thank you.” 

“All of your cousins are here for you if talking to someone closer to your age would be easier for you. How old are you 

now?”

“I’ll be eleven in October, Uncle Michael.”

“Remember that any of your cousins will be there for you if you need them. Mine are probably a bit too old for you though. 

Vic and Tom, of course, don’t have any children but Robert’s youngest two should be close to your age.”

“I’m OK Uncle Michael, Mommy and I talked about what I would have to do before she got too sick.”

“That certainly sounds like my little sister.”

***

“Uncle Vic, Uncle Tom it was nice of you to come all the way from Alaska.”

“Tay we had to come, Katherine was my big sister after all. How're you doing sport?”

“I’m fine Uncle Vic, Mommy and I cried before it was too late. I know that I'll see her again some day.”

“Tay you've gotten so tall since the last time I saw you.”

“I’m taller than Papa now, Granddaddy says that Daddy didn’t get that tall until he was over 14. Granddaddy says I get my 

height from his Kinney genes. I think the Napoli genes have something to do with it too. After all you, Uncle Michael, and 

Uncle Robert are all well over 6 foot tall too.”

“I’m guessing that you'll be taller than your Granddaddy when you get your full height Tay.”

“You think so Uncle Vic?” 

“Gus we're so sorry. We're going to miss Katherine so much.”

“Thank you Vic.”

***

 

“Gussy I can’t tell you how sorry I am for your loss. You know that we're all here for you. Don’t be afraid to call any of 

us at any time.”

“Daddy knows that Aunty Em. He just doesn’t feel like talking right now.”

“The same goes for you Tay, don’t be afraid to call me, Teddy or Mikey if you need anything.”

“I know Aunty Em but Daddy will take care of me.”

 

***

 

“Taylor would you like to come back to California with us for a few weeks before school starts?” 

“No Grandma, maybe next year. I have to be here for Daddy.” 

“Tay go to California if you want.” 

“Not this year Daddy.” 

“Whatever you want Tay.” 

“Gus why don’t you and Taylor plan on coming out for Christmas then.”

“We’ll see Maria.”

 

***

 

“Brian I’m worried about Gus, he's never been this morose. I hate to say this but he's acting more like you than me. Gus 

has always been able to express his emotions, why can‘t he this time?” 

“We'll just have to watch out for him Sunshine, Katherine was his life for 18 years. You know how we Kinneys deal with the 

loss of our loved ones; we go into a period of funk. Taylor though is handling himself very well.” 

“Do you think we should take them home with us or take them to their house?” 

“Whatever Gus wants is what we'll do but I think he needs to get back to his normal routine as soon as possible.”

 

***

 

“Tay go tell Papa that I have to get out of here soon.”

“OK Daddy, do you want to go home or to Granddaddy and Papa’s house?”

“Home Tay, we have to start getting back to normal, that's what your Mommy would want.”

“I know Daddy. Daddy you need to cry for Mommy, it helped me just like Mommy told me it would.”

“I wish I could Tay, but I just can’t. I wish I knew why I can’t though; I’ve always been able to show my feelings. Dad 

could never show his feelings without working at it but I could show mine as easily as Papa does. Why can’t I cry? Go find 

Papa, I have to get away from this crowd.”

“Daddy they're our family and they're here for us. “

“TAYLOR go get your Papa now.”

 

***

 

“Papa, Daddy's ready to go home. We have to go soon before he gets mad.”

“Taylor get your Daddy out to the Jeep we'll be there as soon as possible, we do have to say our good byes. Brian you go 

that way and I’ll go the other way and we can say them that much quicker.”

“Taylor we want you to know how proud we've been of you since your mother got sick. You've handled the situation very well.”

“Thank you Granddaddy but Mommy and I talked about how strong I would have to be for Daddy before she got too sick. Daddy 

hasn’t cried yet and I don’t think that's good for him.”

“Well Taylor everyone grieves differently. Your Daddy'll have to grieve in his own way and we'll just have to be there for 

him. Go get him and we'll see you at the Jeep in 10 minutes.”

“OK Granddaddy, I love you two.”

“We love you and your Daddy.”

***

 

“Daddy, Papa and Granddaddy'll meet us at the Jeep in 10 minutes, they have to say their good byes.”

“Tay you can a learn a lot from those two fairys, no matter the situation they're the perfect hosts.”

“Daddy!! They love us why're you being nasty.”

“I don’t know Tay, I don’t know. I know they love us and that they would do anything they can for us. But sometimes it's 

hard to deal with their perfection. Especially when I’m so far from perfect.”

“Come on Daddy lets get to the Jeep.”

***

Taylor and Gus went to the Jeep but Taylor was the only one to respond to anything said to them as they walked through the 

crowd of family and friends. Everyone was amazed at how poorly Gus had handled his loss since he had always been such a 

mature person even when he was very young. The Pittsburgh contingent was reminded of how poorly Mikey had handled the death 

of his mother 7 years earlier but then everyone had expected that. No one expected Gus to have so many problems dealing with 

his loss. Everyone was amazed at the maturity that Taylor exercised though.

***

“Gus where do you want to go?”

“Home Papa, it's time Tay and I get back to a normal life. At least as close to normal as we can. We'll come and get his 

stuff tomorrow.”

“Gus you know you can call or come over anytime you need to talk.”

“Yes Papa I know that. But I have imposed on you enough the last several weeks. You two need to be alone for a while too. 

Katherine was an important part of your lives as well as mine.”

“Gus, don’t try to be too strong. Ask for help if you need it. You have a very large family that's here for you. Take 

advantage of your family, they can help. They want to help.”

“Don’t worry about me so much Dad.”

“Gus I'll always worry about you, just like you'll always worry about Taylor, it's part of being a father.”

“Don’t pay attention to me Dad, I don’t know why I’m being so negative.”

“Gus you lost the love of your life, we know how that has to be tearing you up. But Gus you have to let her go and get on 

with your life. You know that's what Katherine would want.”

“I know Papa but it's so hard. I loved her from the moment I first saw her and now she's gone. What am I going to do?”

“You're going to get on with your life and raise your son. That's what Katherine would want and that's what you'll do.”

“Good bye Dad, Papa, we're grateful for everything you've done for us in the past several weeks.”

“Gus remember everyone in the family's here for you. Don’t be too proud to call anyone, that goes for you too Taylor.”

“Don’t worry about us Granddaddy we'll be fine.”

“Taylor the day I don’t worry about you or your Daddy will be the day they bury me.”

***

 

“Tay, I just don’t feel like cooking will you call for some take-out?”

“What do you want Daddy?”

“I don’t care, surprise me.”

***

“Tay, wake up and get dressed.”

“What time is it Daddy and where're we going?”

“It's 2 AM and you're going to the perfect faggots’ house.”

“What's the matter Daddy, why're we going there at this time of the night?”

“Just shut up and get ready, be in the car in 10 minutes or I'll just leave you here.”

“Daddy what's the matter?”

“Tay, I mean it get ready or stay here alone.”

“Daddy what if Granddaddy and Papa aren’t home?”

“They'll be home Tay, for a pair of queers, they lead a very boring life.”

“Daddy, what's the matter with you? Why're you mad at Granddaddy and Papa? Why're you calling them names? They love us.”

“I don’t know Tay, I just have to be by myself for a while. I know they love us but I’m tired of their perfection. Just 

ignore me Tay, remember that I love you, and them, but right now I just have to go away from everyone and figure out what I’m 

going to do with my life.”

“Daddy, talk to Papa he'll know what to do. I don’t want you to leave me, I'll go with you and help you.”

“Taylor Kinney Peterson-Marcus I told you I have to be alone, so get out of this car, go knock on the door and wait for the 

super fags to let you in. If they aren’t home, which isn’t likely, you can go sleep in my old tree house in the back yard.”

“Daddy don’t do this, Mommy wouldn’t want you to be alone. Mommy would be very upset with you calling Papa and Granddaddy 

names.”

“Well your Mommy isn’t here anymore so I don’t have to worry about what she wants anymore do I?”

“Daddy, just cry that'll help you more than going off by yourself.”

“Goodbye Tay, I'll see you when I can stand being around people who love me.”

“Daddy!!”

***

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG

“Who the fuck would be banging on our door at a quarter to three?”

“Well get up and go see Brian. I‘ll bet it isn‘t a door to door salesman though.”

“Always the joker aren’t you Sunshine?”

“Part of why you love me, isn’t it?”

 

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG

 

“Whoever it is isn’t going away. Remember to wear your robe you wouldn’t want to scare our uninvited guest by opening the 

door naked.”

“At this hour they don’t have the right to complain about how I answer the door.”

“Granddaddy you're home, I was beginning to get worried. I didn’t want to sleep in the tree house.”

“Taylor what're you doing here at this time of night? 

JUSTIN GET UP IT'S TAYLOR. 

What do you mean you didn’t want to sleep in the tree house? 

Where's your Daddy, does he know you're here? 

Taylor have you run away from home? 

Why would you run away from home?”

“Brian calm down, let the boy in and he'll answer our questions.”

“Taylor why're you here?”

“Daddy woke me up and told me to get dressed and in the car in ten minutes or he would leave me alone. He told me that if 

you weren’t home I could sleep in the tree house. He kept saying mean things about you two. He said he had to be by himself 

for a while. He still won’t cry for Mommy, I’m scared that he's going to do something to himself.”

“Taylor, Gus would never do anything to himself. He must be hurting more than we thought for him to run away from home. Go 

to his old room and go to sleep, we'll figure out what to do in the morning.”

“Granddaddy, I’ve never heard him use words like fag and queer before and he called you two both of them. I don’t want to 

lose him too.”

“Don’t worry Taylor, he'll be back to normal soon. Don’t worry about what he said those are just words and we know that no 

matter what is making him say the words he doesn’t mean them.”

“OK I’ll go to sleep then but wake me up if he comes back.”

“Just go to bed Taylor we'll take care of things.”

“Brian let’s go back to bed too, we can’t solve anything now. We'll call Mel and Linds first thing and have them over so we 

can decide as a family what to do about Gus running away from home.”

“OK but I doubt that I can get back to sleep.”

“All we can do is try, but we'll have to be strong for Taylor, and staying awake for the rest of the night won’t help with 

that task.”

***

“Hi Mel, this's Justin. You and Lindsay need to come over as soon as possible. We need to talk about Gus.”

“What?”

“Gus ran away from home last night. It'll be easier to talk about it once you two get here, Mel.”

“Ran away from home? Gus is almost 36 years old, what do you mean he ran away from home?’

“Just get over here and we'll discuss everything then. I’m going to call Vic and see if he and Tom can take care of Taylor 

for the day.”

“OK Justin we'll be there in a half an hour.”

***

“Hello.”

“Tom? Is Vic there, this's Justin Taylor?”

“I’ll get him, is there a problem?”

“Yes but I need to ask you and Vic for a favor.”

“Hello.”

“Vic it's Justin.”

“Hi Justin, what's the problem?”

“Your brother-in-law has run away from home. Brian and I were hoping that you and Tom would be able to watch Taylor today 

why we try to figure out what to do about Gus. He obviously is having more problems with Katherine’s death than we thought. 

I’m sure that Taylor would be better off spending the day with you two and than here worrying about his Daddy.”

“No problem Justin we'll be over as soon as possible. Does Tay have any favorite things to do?”

“Taylor's like Gus; he'll be happy doing whatever the two of you want to do. Taylor, just like Gus, has always liked the 

zoo.”

“OK we'll see you soon. Don’t worry too much about Gus, he's too sensible to do anything stupid.”

“I would've agreed with you yesterday Vic but that was before he dumped Taylor here in the middle of the night and went off 

to be alone.”

“Justin, Gus'll be fine. Goodbye, see you soon.”

***

“Good morning Taylor, how'd you sleep?”

“I’ve slept better Granddaddy. Have you heard from Daddy?”

“No son, but don’t worry he'll be fine. I’ve known him all of his life and he'll be fine. He just needs to figure out why 

he can’t grieve for your Mommy. Once he does that he'll be home and back to normal. We just have to give him a few days.”

“Taylor I called your Uncle Vic, he and Tom'll be here soon. We want you to spend the day with them. Don’t worry too much 

about your Daddy he'll probably be home before you get back from your day with your Uncles.”

“I’ll try Papa but I’m sure I'll worry some.”

“That’s OK Taylor but have fun. Send Tom and Vic back to Alaska with good memories of Pittsburgh.”

“All right Papa I’ll have fun.” 

“Taylor would you go answer the door?”

“Sure Granddaddy.”

***

“Taylor how are you doing?’

“Fine Grandma Mel, I’m going to spend the day with Uncle Vic and Uncle Tom so that I’m not in the way.”

“Taylor I’m sure that no one thinks you'd be in the way, they just want you to have a good day.”

“I’m not stupid Grandma but I'll have a good day and I’ll make sure that Uncle Vic and Uncle Tom have good memories of 

Pittsburgh to take back to Alaska. There they are, I‘ll see all of you later tonight.”

***

“Brian, Justin have you heard anything from Gus? By the way Taylor wasn’t fooled, he knows you were getting him out of the 

way. Tom and Vic pulled up while we were at the door and Taylor went ahead and left with them.”

“Well I didn’t expect that I would get away with it, but as long as he has a better day, than he would have here, is the 

goal. 

How could Gus do something so stupid? Dropping a 10 year-old off in the middle of the night telling him to sleep in the 

treehouse if we weren’t home.”

“Justin, Gus obviously is hurting more than we thought and not thinking clearly. We just have to hope that he doesn’t do 

anything too stupid and comes home soon. Knowing Gus as well as we do, he isn’t going to do anything he or we'll regret and 

he'll be home today tomorrow at the latest.”

“I hope so Lindsay. Right now I don’t know whether I would hug him or spank him if he walked in the door.”

“That would be something to see Sunshine. Gus is almost a foot taller than you and outweighs you by 50 pounds.”

“Brian do you really think that would matter?”

“No but it still would be something to see.”

“Did anyone of you ever have to spank Gus when he was a boy? I know I never did, he was almost the perfect child. The few 

times he actually needed to be punished he did it to himself better than a spanking would've done.”

“I did slap his hand once.”

“Lindsay!”

“Well he was about 16 months old and was going to stick a screwdriver into a socket. But that was the only time.”

“I spoke harshly to him once.”

“Mel you didn’t.”

“He smart mouthed me and I told him off but then he got so apologetic about the whole thing that I felt worse than he did.”

“Well Brian spill.”

“I made him write 100 times that he wouldn’t call his mothers munchers.”

“What? When was this?”

“I think he was in the 3rd grade; of course while he was writing it 100 time I was writing it 500 times. He got a lot of fun 

out of that.”

“Well that stroll down memory lane was enjoyable we still have to decide what to do today.”

“Sunshine you always stay on topic.”

“Well someone has to Brian. I think w're just going to have to wait him out. He'll be back within a few days but I don‘t 

think we can let Taylor go home with him until w're sure he's back to normal.”

“Taylor'll have something to say about that Justin.”

“I know Mel but we're the adults and he's the 10 year-old so he'll have to do what we tell him to do.”

“Justin I would tread carefully, you don’t want him to hate you and not letting him be with his Daddy will not be what he 

wants.”

“Lindsay I'll take that chance but I’m not taking any chances with him. Gus has abandoned him once already.”

“You don’t think Sonnyboy really abandoned him do you Justin?”

“I don’t know what to think Brian. The Gus we raised wouldn’t do what he did last night. I don’t know who he is. We knew 

that Katherine’s death was hard on him but I had no idea that it hurt him as much as it obviously has. I just hope he has 

gone off and gotten drunk and once he sobers up he'll come home as our old Gus. But I'll not send Taylor home with him until 

I'm sure that it's the old Gus. Taylor can hate me but he'll be safe.”

“Should we go looking for him then?”

“I don’t think so Lindsay, he'll come home on his own when he's ready. If we find him and bring him home it's more likely 

than not that he would just run off again. I guess that our perfect son is finally acting up; though I wish he had done 

back when he was a boy instead of now when he has a boy of his own he should be worrying about instead of causing the boy to 

worry.”

“Well call whenever he shows up.”

“Sure Melanie but I don’t expect him before tomorrow. If he gets back to normal he'll be so embarrassed that he'll put off 

coming home for that reason. He'll be guilty about Taylor so he'll be home soon enough. When he does come home it will be 

best Brian if you be the one to deal with him.”

“Why's that Justin?”

“Because I’m liable to slap him silly.”

“Justin!”

“I know, I know but you guys don’t know how mad I am at him. I’m not sure that I trust myself so Brian you do the talking.”

“Good bye guys, things'll get back to normal soon enough. Just wait and see Justin, you know you can’t stay mad at 

Sonnyboy.”

“I hope so Lindsay, I hope so. We'll call as soon as he gets home, even in the middle of the night.”

***

“Uncle Vic, Uncle Tom I’ve had a great day and only thought about Daddy some of the time. Thank you. Do you have good 

memories about Pittsburgh to take back to Alaska?”

“Tay I’ve always had good memories about Pittsburgh since the first time I came here to see Katherine and Aunt Deb. That's 

when I met your Granddaddy and Papa and found out that two Gay men could have a complete and long term loving relationship. 

Part of the reason Tom and I've been together so long is because of their example. But Tay I think you're getting old enough 

that you can just call us Vic and Tom.”

“OK Vic, but I'll always think of you two as the Guncles.”

“The what?”

“Think about it Vic. Guncles”

“Tay you've been around your Granddaddy way too much.”

“He would be pleased that you think so. He's not nearly as perfect as Daddy thinks he is. Papa is pretty much perfect 

though. Do you guys think Daddy is going to be OK?”

“Yes Tay I do. Gus is just hurting more than we thought. He fell in love with Katherine the minute he saw her all those 

years ago. While I’m sure he'll come home soon he might need to be shocked out of his funk.”

“What do you mean Vic?”

“Katherine’s death has shocked him out of his normal routines, it might just take another shock to get him back where we all 

want him to be, him more than any of us I’m sure. You might suggest it to your Granddaddy. Tay think about what we talked 

about at dinner, any time you want to visit us in Alaska just let us know and we'll set up the arrangements. You gave us 

more good memories about Pittsburgh today we would love to give you good memories about Fairbanks and the rest of Alaska.”

“Don’t worry that I won’t take you up on that invitation. Maybe next summer I can spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa 

in California and then some with you two in Alaska.”

“Here you are home again, tell Brian and Justin that we had a good time with you today. Our flight leaves early in the 

morning so until the next time we see you know that we love you and your Daddy too.”

“I know Vic and I love the Guncles. Goodbye.”

***

“Granddaddy, Papa I had a good time with the Guncles today, thank you for asking them to watch after me. Did you hear 

anything from Daddy?”

“No Taylor but then I don’t expect to hear from him before tomorrow. Guncles?”

“Think about it Justin.”

“Oh, Taylor you little scamp. Before you say anything about being taller than me, you'll always be a little scamp to me just 

like your Daddy is still a little scamp to me. Why can‘t one of you Peterson-Marcus‘s take after me and be short?”

“Oh Papa we all know that you're the biggest member of the family.”

“Good answer Taylor. He got you with that one Sunshine.”

“Vic invited me to visit with him and Tom in Alaska someday. Do you think Daddy'll let me go all the way to Fairbanks on my 

own?”

“We'll have to see Taylor but did you give them good memories of Pittsburgh?”

“Yes but Vic says he's had good memories of Pittsburgh since the first time he came here and met you two. You were an 

inspiration to him about how two gay men could be in a loving relationship. Why would he have worried about that?”

“Times have changed Taylor, times have changed.”

“What does that mean Granddaddy?”

“Nothing you need to worry about Taylor, just an old man thinking about the past.”

“You aren’t old Granddaddy, just experienced.”

“Who told you that?”

“Grandma Mel.”

“Well I guess we'll give this one to Melanie.”

“Brian you really have grown up.”

“Sunshine I just love you and your mega watt smiles. What do you want to have for supper Taylor?”

“Pizza is always fine with me Granddaddy.”

***

BANG BANG BANG BANG

“Who the fuck is it this time?”

“Go let Gus in Brian then come back to bed.”

 

“It's about time you came to your senses Sonnyboy.”

“Fuck off you old fairy. I’m here for my son.”

“Well he's asleep and we aren’t going to wake him up in the middle of the night. Go to the spare room and sleep it off.”

“I’m not spending another night in this faggot haven.”

“Gus what's the matter with you?”

“Nothing is wrong with me I just finally realized what a deviant you are and I don’t want my son under your roof any 

longer.”

“Brian what's taking so long? Gus why're you still standing in the door, go to the spare room and we'll figure things out in 

the morning.”

“Shut the fuck up you little queer, I’m tired of doing anything and everything to keep the two of you happy. It's amazing 

what spending a day at a fucking gay bar will teach a fool like me.”

“Gus what the hell is wrong, what happened today?”

“What the fuck do you think Justin? I got drunk and spent the day hearing all about the famous Brian Kinney and the fucking 

twink that tamed the King of Liberty Avenue. Yep, I hunted up one of your old haunts. Woody‘s is quite the dump but boy did 

all of the old faggots there remember the good old days of Brian Kinney fucking every guy that would bend over. How many 

years has it been and they still remember you Dad. Hell the young ones would bend over if you were to show up and ask. What 

a reputation you must have had if it still is this strong over 30 years later. Hell they kept falling over me simply because 

I look like you. Shit I could have had my cock sucked off of my groin. I could have fucked 20 guys or been fucked even more 

times if I'd been interested. That's quite the reputation to have so of course I don‘t want my impressionable son in this 

house where he might get corrupted by your presence. Did I ever thank you Uncle Justin?”

“Thank me for what?”

“For taming the King of Liberty Avenue.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean Gus?”

“Well Papa if you hadn’t tamed Dad he probably would've been getting into my pants as soon as there was anything worth 

getting into them for.”

S L A P

“AUGUSTUS BRIAN PETERSON-MARCUS!!! I know that you're drunk, I know that you're miserable over Katherine’s death, I know that 

you're mad at the universe but you know full well that whether I was in his life or not your father would've never done 

anything to you. If you ever say anything even remotely close to that again I don’t know what I would do. Gus you have to 

get out of this funk. We know that you don’t mean what you're saying but you aren’t helping Taylor by how you're acting. 

You have to figure out how to get back to normal for Taylor. Sooner rather than later but you have to do something. Go 

sleep it off and we'll talk in the morning when we're all refreshed and able to think more clearly than we can right now.”

“No you little fucking faggot I’m getting my son and we're going home and we'll never see you two fucking queers ever again.”

“Daddy I’m ready to go home. We don’t have to stay here with these 2 fags anymore.”

“Taylor!”

“Tay!”

“Well Daddy that's what you've been saying. That these 2 queers are so perfect you can’t stand to be in the same room. So 

let’s just go home and get away from them and then you'll feel better.”

“Taylor Kinney Peterson-Marcus! Don’t you remember who you were named after?”

“Of course I know Daddy, I was named after these 2 effing queers but that was before you decided that you didn’t love them 

anymore because they are 2 effing perfect fags.”

“Tay what have I done to make you think I think such horrible things. Oh God what's wrong with me?” With that Gus started 

sobbing and holding his hands to his face. 

Taylor then looked at his Papa and Granddaddy, who were just standing there in total shock and disbelief.

“Papa, Granddaddy, don’t worry I know what I'm doing. I love you both just like Daddy does. We just have to make him 

remember it.” Taylor told them in a stage whisper.

“Daddy lets go home so I won’t be corrupted by Papa and Granddaddy anymore.”

“Tay you know I didn’t mean any of that. I don’t know why I said any of it. I just was trying to make someone else hurt as 

much as I hurt. Your mother would be so disappointed in me. Dad, Papa can you ever forgive me? How could I ever say such 

nasty things, you two've always been there for me no matter what. Why can’t I do the right thing by those who I love and 

love me the most? Oh Katherine why did you leave me? Katherine you really are gone. Katherine how can I get along without 

you?”

“Daddy we're all here for you. Papa and Granddaddy didn’t believe what you were saying was what you believed. You need to 

cry some more Daddy.”

Brian then pulled his Sonnyboy out of the doorway, shut the door and then hugged his son harder than he'd ever hugged him. 

Gus finally totally broke down and started sobbing for the loss of his wife. Justin joined his lover in holding their son. 

Taylor watched the men of his life get to a better place.

“Tay can you forgive me for the pain I’ve caused you these last few days?”

“Daddy I love you of course I forgive you. Daddy maybe we should buy a new house so that we can get away from the memories 

in the old house.”

“Gus Taylor has a good point. But you still need to go sleep off your drunk. We can talk in the morning about everything.”

“Papa you do know that I didn’t mean anything don’t you? “

“Yes Gussy I know that and we still love you, always have always will but we need to go back to bed.”

***

“Mel he's here. He's a long way to go but he's started the process. See you in the morning.”

“Thanks for calling Brian. Good night.”

***

 

“Dad, Papa I truly am sorry for what I said. I can’t believe I said such nasty things. I don’t know where that came from.”

“What're you talking about Sonnyboy?’

“Thanks Daddy.”

“Gus, Taylor had a good point about too many memories in your house, instead of buying something new the two of you could 

move in with us, there certainly is enough room.”

“Do you like that idea Tay?”

“Sure Daddy, I love staying with Granddaddy and Papa so living here would be great.”

“Justee I’m so sorry, I know I can never make up for what I said last night but I hope you can forgive me someday.”

“Of course I've forgiven you but just to make sure that you understand the gravity of your comments I want you to write 100 

times that you won’t call your fathers derogatory names.”

“Sunshine you little scamp!!


End file.
